The idea at the core of the book, published in 1976, was thrillingly simple: that a living organism is just a gene’s way of making more organisms that can carry the gene down the generations.

Back then, The Selfish Gene seemed pretty harmless. Dawkins’s ideas tracked with mainstream sociobiology. It was a popular book that covered exactly the sort of ideas that my lecturers were already teaching.

Re-reading it now, with decades of scholarship in the history of biology under my belt, it seems less benign. The determinism baked into the “gene’s-eye view” in the book troubles me, as does the passivity of the organism in Dawkins’s telling — a “vehicle”, a mere “replicator”. The implication: that traits such as aggression are hard-wired into people. Fortunately, over the past couple of decades, new tools, fresh models and scholars in many disciplines have begun to embrace the complex reality of biology. Readers in search of an understanding of life on Earth today would do better to reach for books that take a broader view.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/scientificarticles/p/1490571/frequent-and-unintentional-daytime-napping-linked-to-higher-dementia-risk-in-older-adult

Have scientists finally found a way to save the banana from disaster?

“We are not trying to preserve the Cavendish. We’re trying to replace Cavendish because we believe at the core of any sustainable farming system is biodiversity and genetic diversity.”

Other researchers have taken different approaches. A team at Queensland University of Technology led by Prof James Dale has created a genetically modified Cavendish by using a bacterium to introduce a single gene from a wild banana that produces resistance to TR4. A type of Cavendish called QCAV-4, has been approved for human consumption in Australia and New Zealand, with researchers confirming that it tastes like the traditional banana. However it is just a backup option if quarantine measures against the devastating Panama Disease TR4 fail.

De Vega, by contrast, is collaborating with other researchers to explore gene-editing techniques. These involve using “molecular scissors” to cut parts of the Cavendish’s DNA and replace them with genes from other banana cultivars. Creating both male and female plants will allow the Cavendish to be cross bred. This hopefully will lead to new offspring that are both resistant and as tasty and long lasting as our usual bananas.

As far as taste goes there are lots of good alternatives including these Banana Types. Lets hope not only disease resistance improves.