quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

How do you know that without looking?
That's like if someone said "there's nothing that can be found out about the cosmos by looking at it with magnifying optics".

Because you have to know what you are looking for and since no geneticist of credit reckons they fully understand how genes work in anything but more than a general way the idea a malfunctioning gene or mutant gene or whatever, could be found in a specific person prompting a specific behaviour is ridiculious, especially when genes don't appear to have a direct influence on behaviour but work in concert with experience and environment etc.etc. Think about it, if genetics was that easy, the billions that have been spent on disorders that are known to be genetic in origin would be a walk in the park. Cancers would have been cured long ago. Considering that, consider the idea that somehow Connecticut university is going to find a specific gene in a specific person that caused a specific behaviour pattern is laughable.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

Genes actually are very simple.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

Genes actually are very simple.

quote:

Consortium researchers have confirmed the existence of 19,599 protein-coding genes in the human genome and identified another 2,188 DNA segments that are predicted to be protein-coding genes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

Genes actually are very simple.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen
As to genetic disease, we may know that the lack of a specific functioning protein leads to the illness but often by the time the illness is discovered the damage is done and even when the damage is reversible introducing that specific protein into the body likely won't do much good since proteins are in general too big to cross through cell walls.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

As to studying Lanza's genome, there could be any number of discoveries that would help explain his actions. He could have fragile X or some other chromosomal abnormality which are known to affect behavior. He could even have been XYY or XXY or some other sex chromosome problem that is known to be associated with violent behaviour. Or they could find nothing but taking a look and sequencing his genome would give scientists studying such another data point and the more data the better.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

If you people know nothing of biology then why are you people even discussing this?

Go find a biologist and ask them what a gene does. They'll tell you what I told you, genes carry the information for the cells to make proteins period.

We do know that some genes and chromomal abnormalities are associated with specific behaviour. For instance trisomy 21, Down's syndrome, is associated with a passive "sweet" disposition while men with XYY syndrome have a higher than normal incidence of violence. We know more about these conditions because we've been able to identify them for far longer than specific gene mutations.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

Some folks can't figure that out Ken.

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

If you people know nothing of biology then why are you people even discussing this?

Go find a biologist and ask them what a gene does. They'll tell you what I told you, genes carry the information for the cells to make proteins period.

We do know that some genes and chromomal abnormalities are associated with specific behaviour. For instance trisomy 21, Down's syndrome, is associated with a passive "sweet" disposition while men with XYY syndrome have a higher than normal incidence of violence. We know more about these conditions because we've been able to identify them for far longer than specific gene mutations.

I think it is you who knows nothing about biology when you say genes are simple and then go on to give two examples of genes 'associated with'. Well ALL genes are associated with behaviour, like all expeience is associated with behaviour like the environment is associated with behaviour, it is after all a chemical switch that decides if you have black skin or white skin but how and why is a another matter.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

If you people know nothing of biology then why are you people even discussing this?

Go find a biologist and ask them what a gene does. They'll tell you what I told you, genes carry the information for the cells to make proteins period.

We do know that some genes and chromomal abnormalities are associated with specific behaviour. For instance trisomy 21, Down's syndrome, is associated with a passive "sweet" disposition while men with XYY syndrome have a higher than normal incidence of violence. We know more about these conditions because we've been able to identify them for far longer than specific gene mutations.

I think it is you who knows nothing about biology when you say genes are simple and then go on to give two examples of genes 'associated with'. Well ALL genes are associated with behaviour, like all expeience is associated with behaviour like the environment is associated with behaviour, it is after all a chemical switch that decides if you have black skin or white skin but how and why is a another matter.

I gave 2 examples of chromosomal abnrmality. Whether any genes are defective on the extra chromosome does not appear to matter in these cases. Perhaps you should actually learn something about this subject before pontificating on it?

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

Some folks can't figure that out Ken.

Some folks aren't stupid enough to claim something is simple when all scientists have done is scratch the surface of a subject and formed a few ideas about it while being decades away, at least, from finding everything out, if that is possible in the first place.

There is no one more knowledgeable than someone who is ignorant and thinks they know it all.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

quote:

Consortium researchers have confirmed the existence of 19,599 protein-coding genes in the human genome and identified another 2,188 DNA segments that are predicted to be protein-coding genes.

How can that many of anything be simple?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

That is correct. Scientists have only scratched the surface.
It appears, though, that you want them to stop scratching in an attempt to find out why this messed up kid killed all those people.
Why do I say he was messed up?
Welllllllll, normal people just don't commit mass murder.
Ergo, something was wrong with him. What was wrong? We just don't know but we owe it to future generations to try to find out.

quote:

ORIGINAL: vincentML

~FR~

A partial list of mass killers the world over can be found here. This sickness is not just an American problem. The ready availability of guns make it seem so. There are probably other incidents in places with poor information sources. When is the last time any of us have read the Uganda Daily News for example? And I have to wonder if some of the activities of revolutionary militia in Asia and Africa do not offer cover for a spree killer. And then of course the Rwanda genocide might have been a spree killer's picnic.

quote:

ORIGINAL: vincentML

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

quote:

Consortium researchers have confirmed the existence of 19,599 protein-coding genes in the human genome and identified another 2,188 DNA segments that are predicted to be protein-coding genes.

How can that many of anything be simple?

The tools are getting more powerful. They are not yet to the equivalence of the Hubble Space Telescope by a long shot but they are far past equivalent to Galileo's simple telescope. Posted this earlier:

“So, if schizophrenia is genetic, and we know the location in the brain where the first problems arise, can't we nail down the gene? In the last 5 years we've developed the capability to sequence genomes and check out genetic polymorphisms (differences in genes between one person and another) both rapidly and cheaply. This has enabled us to do a brute force hack of the genome, looking at the genes of many families and finding those genes that are common to families with schizophrenia and are absent in families without schizophrenia. I wrote about a similar study done for migraines a while back. (SNIP)

The great thing about the brute force hack genetic studies is that if you have a computer, thousands of data points, and some grad students, you can just as easily look for correlations of not only 1, but 2 or 3 or 4 genetic polymorphisms. And when the schizophrenia researchers did that with the various genes associated with the ErbB4 signaling pathway, they hit the jackpot. All these genes interact with each other, like links in a chain. Break one link, and the brain can compensate. But break two links (so have two unfortunate genetic polymorphisms in this pathway), and your signaling becomes more inefficient. Your risk of schizophrenia goes up 8-fold. Break three links in the chain, and the risk for schizophrenia goes up 27-fold."

SOURCE

The heavens were once quite complicated but our understanding increased as our tools improved. This is true of any science. No less true of neuroscience and evolutionary psychology.