Experimental Blog #118

Quotations and Comments on "DNA USA - A Genetic Protrait of America" by Bryan Sykes

It seems that except for a fairly limited number of diseases, "the Human Genome Project has achieved very little as far as alleviating or even untangling the suffering caused by disease."
"...for most diseases with an inherited component, ... the links to specific genes are a great deal more tenuous." "The reality is that the genes involved are many in number and individually weak in their effect."

As far as the English are concerned, "the predominant myth today {is} that the English are descended from Germanic Saxons" ... However, "Genetics shows that this is not the case, and that the genetic bedrock of the whole of Britain ... is fundamentally Celtic overlaid with a thin topsoil of Saxons and Vikings, nowhere more than 20 percent."

And speaking of "origin myths" in general, is it not true that it is through our DNA that we are all human, and we are all related to each other, and to all of the rest of life on Earth as well?

And also generally speaking, is it not true that China and India, for example, are "succeeding" by beating the "winners", that is Western Europe and America, at "our own game" by becoming experts in the necessary sciences?

"DNA USA" is also a very entertaining travel book.