Reading Response 9/10/15

I find it so fascinating that when the genome was first sequenced, all thought of biological basis of race was erased, but now as we develop more sophisticated and nuanced techniques of analysis on DNA we can pick out these small differences once more and say that they define separate races.  Let’s be clear here, though.  There is no biological basis for our social construction of what defines a “race”.  Take any physical anthropology class and that is abundantly clear.  It sort of bothers me that this article insists on linking our social construction of what constitutes a ‘race’ to the miniscule biological differences present in groups of people from different areas of the world.  The 0.01% of difference among humans is very small but can still be used in targeted medicine and gene therapies.  From my background in other biology and anthropology classes, I can tell you that the genetic differences found between groups of people (for example, comparing 2 ethnic groups) is actually less than the genetic diversity found between groups.  This is strong evidence of intermixing of human populations to the level of relative homogeneity.

The gut microbiome is really an interesting subject of study.  The bacteria in our digestive tracts have a huge influence on the rest of our body and some recent studies have found its influence on our mental health.  In fact, the vagus nerve (which is the major nerve linking our digestive tract with our brain) has been shown to exert control over growth patterns, moods (via stress hormone levels!), not to mention our digestive health.