Matt Ridley

In the chapter titled, “Immortality,” Matt Ridley discusses the idea of the immortal cell theory. He presents some case studies as well as his own speculations. To began, he explains how the origin of the first cell is still alive in us today and although this is true it does not mean our species will live forever. The function of our life and all life is to reproduce but to get to that we have over came many challenges. On Chromosome 14, the presence of the TEP1 gene seems to be the source of…

I chose the book The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley because I have always been fascinated by how our culture views sex and how it has had an effect on our evolution. The author discusses how the biological factors of sexual selection has affected human psychology. You probably remember the Red Queen hypothesis from recently. From Through the Looking Glass, Alice meets the Red Queen who is constantly running just to stay in one place and not fall behind. This is…

become a reality, and with that, society embraced the science fiction elements often found in movies today. In 2015, Ridley Scott, director of the 1979 film Alien, released The Martian, another renowned movie to occur outside of Earth. After a ferocious storm on Mars, the crew abandoned the station, unintentionally leaving a wounded—but alive—Mark Watney behind. Watney, played by Matt Damon, then colonizes Mars by growing potatoes and discovers how to communicate with NASA back on Earth to plan…

Two Oscar nominees, two very special movies about space and space adventures. “The Martian” and “Apollo 13” are one of the best movies about the world beyond the earth. They both express precisely the emotions of the astronauts travelling in the space and of the rest of the world, relatives, friends and crew members of each mission into the space. These two movies are quite different but still have a lot in common. “Apollo 13” is about seventh manned mission in American Apollo space program and…

matters, but so does genes. It no longer makes any sense to talk of “nature versus nurture” or “genes versus environment” (Ridley, 2003). When it comes to human development, the two are inextricably intertwined, says Matt Ridley (Ridley, 2003). For example, a gene for speaking, named FOXP2, allows the human mind to absorb from early experience the learning necessary for speaking (Ridley, 2003). When it comes to human behavior, genes and environment work together to provide humans with their…

extraterrestrial roots (Sagan, 2011). Cereologists are trying to discredit the idea that humans are involved, and use conspiracy theories about the government planting evidence to deprive the story behind the origin of these circles (Ridley, 2011). When Matt Ridley wrote the article…

Nature vs. Nurture Donald Hebb once asked "Which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its length or its width?” (Jasuja, S., Sehgal, thefoxmancometh@ymail.com, 2015, Para. 2). Scientists have been debating for decades on whether nature or nurture has the biggest impact on human development, and until this day there is no definite answer. Is it biology that determines how we turn out to be as individuals, our genes, DNA and family line? If you agree, then you are on the nature side of…

I have read ‘Genome: The Autobiography of a Species In 23 Chapters’ by Matt Ridley; this book is about genetics, with sections on, for example, eugenics, genetic problems, and the origins of human life. I am currently completing and Extended Project on genetics, and whether the use of CRISPR on embryos is morally right. I find…

By pursuing medicine as a career, I hope to have a positive influence on patients’ lives through the knowledge and experience gained from study and work in this vocation. Practicing medicine requires the integration of knowledge, a willingness to research and the ability to empathise with patients. In order to acquire a realistic perception of the duties of a doctor I completed work experience at St. George’s Hospital in an ICU ward. I was struck by a particular case, where a patient with late…

This led me to read Genome by Matt Ridley. The book introduced me to trinucleotide repeat disorders. It’s astonishing how one too many CAG codon repeats can cause defective genes leading to disease. For example, when there are 36 CAG repeats or more on the gene coding for the protein HTT…