The Wonder Of Genetics, is quite a wonder indeed, I was fascinated in genetics before so picking this book for me to read was a really good idea. This books discusses Women being Olympics, too marrying cousins, to why Antibiotics are losing its "punch" Its amazing to see how genetics really ties things together and affects our everyday lives much more than we see.
The book talks about the Conflict that everyone from biologists to psychologists to just your average teacher argues about; Nature vs Nurture, and there is a line on page 186 that stuck out to me " behavioral scientists would probably not argue about whether particular behaviors are hereditary or environmental; rather they tend to ask whether a genetic component exists in the etiology of the behavior in the addition to the obvious environmental components" I found it interesting because I had never thought of the conflict in that way, i always that about it in just a hereditary vs environmental conflict but that opened up the flood gates for different ideas and the relationship between hereditary vs environmental. An example of this would be the behavior of bees when their larvae become infected with Bacillus bacterium and die. To get rid of these dead larvae corpses there are four different type of worker female bees. Some bees will uncap the wax but wont drag out the dead from the hive, some will drag the dead out if a different bee uncaps the wax, some will do both, and others will do neither. It turns out that this is due to Mendelian Genetics, and dragging the dead out of the hive is a behavioral trait with a genetic basis. I found this to be extremely interesting and cool. Makes me wonder what and how genetics in my body affects my behavioral traits.
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The nature vs. nurture debate has been one that I've always heard about throughout high school. Personally, I believe that the way an organism is nurtured has a serious effect on that individuals future. For example, a person who lives in the peojects will obviously live a different life than someone who is raised in the mansions of Miami. What also needs to ne taken into consideration is the exceptions to these steryotypes. There is a possibility that an individual from a poor and broken home aspires to break the tradition of living in the projects all their lives. But will they have the same opportunities as the upper class? I don't think that this debate will ever come to a final conclusion because of the exceptions and different situations of every living organism.
"This books discusses Women being Olympics, too marrying cousins" - um... proofreading might help. Not sure what you are trying to say.
You are referring to the "extended phenotype" phenomenon that Dawkins proposed years ago.
Our behavior is a function of our genes, but also our experiences. Think of the beaver story... one gene can affect one cell, can affect one tissue, and so on...
I also think the nature vs. nurture debate is very interesting. I agree with Bethany that nurture plays a huge role in the success of an individual. People raised in the upper classes will always have more opportunities to be successful. I remember freshman year in bio when we were talking about this debate, Mr. Diana used me as an example and said if I had a twin that lived in a basement somewhere and never saw the light, yet I went on living my normal everyday life, the two of us would be completely different. Our upbringing makes a huge impact on what our futures will be like.
I agree with Bethany that the way an organism acts has to due with how the organism is brought up. Nature vs nurture is a discussion that has been brought up a lot during high school especially to get us ready for college. The way a person acts has to due with their up bringing there are many people that are poor that are now athletes and actors but there are also rich people that spend all of their money and now don't have anything. People also learn a lot from their surroundings from going to a public school or private school. Surrounding and upbringing make a big impact on an individuals life.
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