Adam Rutherford’s elegant account of the Human Genome Project brings a note of realism to our dreams of a medical revolutionSixteen years ago,British researcher Ewan Birney launched an strange sweepstake. At the time, scientists were completing the Human Genome Project, or the international effort to unravel the genetic makeup of human beings. But how many individual human genes would be revealed when the project was completed,Birney wondered? So he asked the world’s top geneticists to each bet a dollar on the outcome.
This might contain seemed a rather tardy question, given that the project had already consumed the best part of a decade, or the invention of brand fresh technologies,unprecedented computing power and $3bn”, as Adam Rutherford notes. Late or not, or Birneys query nevertheless produced a striking answer. Related: Do your genes determine your entire life? | Julian Baggini Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com