Shopping for Traits

People shop for clothes, furniture, electronics, and more every now and then, but now our technology had advanced to the point where people can shop for the traits of their baby. Gender and phenotypic traits are all up for grabs.

Designer Babies, how?

InVitro Fertilization is the technique that allows an egg to be fertilized in a test tube, outside of the mother’s body. After the egg is removed from the body, the scientist can choose which sperm to fertilize it. Then they screen the embryo for possible genetic diseases. After these two steps, the newly fertilized embryo is implanted back into the mother’s womb. This process is called Pre-implantation genetic Diagnosis (PGD).

Curiosity killed the Embryo

InVitro Fertilization was meant for avoiding diseases and to aid the infertile. Because of the miraculous method, people began to become curious of what else could be done during this process. Actually, one can choose the sperm to fertilize the baby, for the choice of the gender, and the genes. During the second step, which was meant to screen for diseases, scientists are able to screen the other traits as well. Because of this technological outbreak, many healthy and fertile couples are visiting clinics to see if they can choose the gender of their baby. Although gender choice is all the hype now, true designer babies will most definitely come in due time.

The Benefits

The original goal of IVF was to help detect and remove deadly and unwanted diseases and to aid the infertile, which are still the biggest benefits of designer babies. Designer babies can relieve the pain and sadness of parents who lose their children early, due to genetic diseases, and decrease the death rate of children who die near birth. Predetermination of gender is a benefit for some people, especially in China, who are currently under the law of one child per family, unless both parents were only children. Predetermining the gender can decrease the numbers of unwanted children due to their gender. Predetermining the traits is also a benefit, but it is also the topic that made designer babies so debatable.

The Arguments

            For people who believe in God, designer babies are like playing with life, which is apparently against the will of God and they are an unnatural occurrence. Only the second point applies to the non-believers. Due to the selection process of embryos, many which are deemed imperfect or unhealthy are discarded, and this is like abortion in the eyes of some people. Also, no matter how good the embryo looks and sounds on screen, it may grow up to be a person whom was not what you intended to be.

Here is a fun little interactive flash where designer babies are explained in a nutshell: http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/babygame.htm

            I think that the randomness of the outcomes of a baby is one of the fun and beautiful aspects of childbirth, and it’s kind of disappointing that the randomness would be phased out. Although I feel that designer babies shouldn’t be what they are going to become, I am not entirely opposed to it. 

Resources

http://singularityhub.com/2009/02/25/designer-babies-like-it-or-not-here-they-come/

http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/babygame.htm

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/designerdebate/

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101108/bc_ctv_investigates_making_babies_5_101108/20101116?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Image Resources

http://www.tylermedicalclinic.com/icsi_3.jpg

http://nwso.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/logo-baby.jpg

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122429/pictures/embryo.gif

Comments on other blogs

http://bio-blob.blogspot.com/2010/11/ill-have-one-baby-thanks-hmm-black-hair.html

http://jamie-bioblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/buildababy-workshop.html

Broken Connections

Introduction

Rivers are a source of freshwater and they are a part of many ecosystems. The way many people see water, as a possession, is wrong, because it isn't. Water constantly flows, and is subject to change. The flows of rivers are very important, because it gives us information about the conditions or state of freshwater ecosystems, and freshwater abundance.

Factors

Many factors can put rivers at risk. Increased population means increased demands for water consumption. Food production requires a lot of water, from growing crops, to processing and making the meal. The demand of water for consumption has increased drastically as well. Climate change is another heavy factor in damaging weathers. Direct human activity like dams that alter natural patterns will also cause damage.

Climate Changes

Water is very sensitive to climate changes. Droughts, floods, excessive glacier melting, and changes in precipitation patterns can devastate the natural patterns of rivers. Frequent droughts will cause the river to evaporate, often leaving the river to dry up. Floods will increase the water level temporarily, but in that time it can do a lot of damage, like destroying habitats. If a glacier melts, not only do we lose our ice shelves, but it also permanently increases water levels, which will be very disruptive to ecosystems. These natural disasters and frequent changes in climates are indirectly caused by humans via Global Warming. In addition, when temperatures rise, the demand for water also rises.

Melting Himalayan Glacier

The dry riverbed of the Gan River,
 near Nanchang, China.

Dam, where’s the flow?  

There are many things that humans have done or created that have damaged the rivers, some are pretty obvious. These structures include dams, locks, weirs, and dykes. These structures were formed to prevent flooding, produce hydropower, and store water for irrigation and consumption.

These structures were designed to alter the flow of rivers for human use by changing the timing of the flow, the quantity of water flowing through, and the quality of the water that flows through. Sure, these inventions help reduce flooding and produce hydropower, but the price is the health of the river. The river flows are made useful to us, by altering their natural flow. This is devastating for not only the river, but also for organisms and ecosystems that relied on the natural water flow to survive. Sometimes, a river can be disconnected from its watershed (The water storage). Some rivers are in danger of not having enough water for a river because of excessive withdrawals for consumption and irrigation.

Mississippi River Lock

 

Yangtze River Dam

Help Can We Give

A way we can help is to take action on preventing dangerous climate changes. Another way is to alter the flows of the rivers back to a more natural state, and compromise its well-being with our needs. We can educate others about this problem, because they have the right to know what is happening to their world. We can keep water usage within nature’s limit. You can also help organizations like WWF to help protect our rivers. 

Resources

http://www.wwf.ca/conservation/freshwater/riversatrisk/

http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/St-Ts/Streamflow-Variability.html

http://www.internationalrivers.org/node/1590

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/195153/partnerships-fuelling-supply-chain-innovation

Picture References

http://www.canada.com/business/1655256.bin?size=620x400

http://www.theresilientearth.com/files/images/himilayan_glacier_2.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Mississippi_River_Lock_and_Dam_number_25_large.jpg

http://www.clarkmorgan.com/en/images/stories/client/wwf-logo.jpg

Comments on Other Blogs

http://jayy-tan.blogspot.com/2010/09/keep-energizer-bunny-out-of-our-soil.html#comments
http://kicksurface.blogspot.com/2010/09/wings-of-liberty-bully-bullies.html