“Peace of Mind Through DNA Testing”…?

DNA paternal testing kit is now available in stores. You send in the samples of mother, “alleged” father and the child, and Identigene Inc.® will send back the result within 3 business days. The price varies depending on the situation (twins, father/motherless cases, etc) but the kit is 30 dollars, and additional few hundred dollars will be charged in order to obtain the result. So far State of New York has banned such “at-home” DNA testing (New York Post Article).

This news got stuck in my throat and took all day to process. I felt like it’s so practical that it’s almost indecent. Too..open. But then I realized that my native sense of shame and subtlety isn’t the problem of my digestive system. It’s the fact that this “at-home” DNA test kit is another piece of evidence to mark the progression of our “gesellschaft” - the society in which everything is based on profit-making. The very fact that people rather invest their money, time and effort into making more accessible DNA test kit than in getting to the bottom of the social issues that are producing these father/motherless children - all because it makes more money. I’m not at all against making profit and it may indeed provide some people with peace of mind. But for now my digestive system doesn’t seem to agree with such trend and the society that thoughtlessly approves of it.

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.” - Oscar Wilde

Ratatouille come true?

Disney/PIXAR©

So Laboratory for symbolic cognitive development and biolinguistics at Brain Science Institute in Japan have found that even rodents - in this case Degu (Octodon Degus) - can be trained to use tools.

They have recently published an article “Tool-use Training in a Species of Rodent: The Emergence of an Optimal Motor Strategy and Functional Understanding” on PLoS ONE, an online science magazine.

According to the article, degus - rodent native to Peru - when given a T-shaped stick, used it to move closer the food that was out of reach.

Significance of this finding is that the study of such cognitive function and development in rodents will provide us with insights into the mechanisms of cognitive function in general. In other words, by studying how these degus learn to use tools, we can deepen our understanding of how our brain functions.

In addition, with rodents the scientists will be able to directly study the development of cranial nerves and DNA without the troubles of keeping and hurting primate for research purposes.

…which brings up the question of the value of life, whether or not it should be considered relative to the level of intelligence.

 

 

…but maybe not tonight.