Mike Teacher
12-12-2003, 02:08 PM
There are several threads about some particular races, but the new issue of Scientific American has an article which asks a much more General question [The Thread Title is the Issue's Cover Question] , that seemed interesting, to me at least. Some select paragraphs from a research group:
http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/race
Does Race Exist?
By Michael J. Bamshad and Steve E. Olson
If races are defined as genetically discrete groups, no. But researchers can use some genetic information to group individuals into clusters with medical relevance.
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The outward signs on which most definitions of race are based--such as skin color and hair texture--are dictated by a handful of genes. But the other genes of two people of the same "race" can be very different. Conversely, two people of different "races" can share more genetic similarity than two individuals of the same race.
The problem is hard in part because the implicit definition of what makes a person a member of a particular race differs from region to region across the globe. Someone classified as "black" in the U.S., for instance, might be considered "white" in Brazil and "colored" (a category distinguished from both "black" and "white") in South Africa.
Nevertheless, scientists can use genetics to sort most large populations according to their ancestral geographic origin. This approach does not work as well for populations resulting from recent mixing with other groups, however.
Data are now providing answers to several highly emotional and contentious questions: Can genetic information be used to distinguish human groups having a common heritage and to assign individuals to particular ones? Do such groups correspond well to predefined descriptions now widely used to specify race? And, more practically, does dividing people by familiar racial definitions or by genetic similarities say anything useful about how members of those groups experience disease or respond to drug treatment?
In general, we would answer the first question yes, the second no, and offer a qualified yes to the third. Our answers rest on several generalizations about race and genetics. Some groups do differ genetically from others, but how groups are divided depends on which genes are examined; simplistically put, you might fit into one group based on your skin-color genes but another based on a different characteristic. Many studies have demonstrated that roughly 90 percent of human genetic variation occurs within a population living on a given continent, whereas about 10 percent of the variation distinguishes continental populations. In other words, individuals from different populations are, on average, just slightly more different from one another than are individuals from the same population.
--------------------------------------Full Article Here (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=00055DC8-3BAA-1FA8-BBAA83414B7F0000)
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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 12-12-03 @ 6:12 PM
http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/race
Does Race Exist?
By Michael J. Bamshad and Steve E. Olson
If races are defined as genetically discrete groups, no. But researchers can use some genetic information to group individuals into clusters with medical relevance.
--------------------------
The outward signs on which most definitions of race are based--such as skin color and hair texture--are dictated by a handful of genes. But the other genes of two people of the same "race" can be very different. Conversely, two people of different "races" can share more genetic similarity than two individuals of the same race.
The problem is hard in part because the implicit definition of what makes a person a member of a particular race differs from region to region across the globe. Someone classified as "black" in the U.S., for instance, might be considered "white" in Brazil and "colored" (a category distinguished from both "black" and "white") in South Africa.
Nevertheless, scientists can use genetics to sort most large populations according to their ancestral geographic origin. This approach does not work as well for populations resulting from recent mixing with other groups, however.
Data are now providing answers to several highly emotional and contentious questions: Can genetic information be used to distinguish human groups having a common heritage and to assign individuals to particular ones? Do such groups correspond well to predefined descriptions now widely used to specify race? And, more practically, does dividing people by familiar racial definitions or by genetic similarities say anything useful about how members of those groups experience disease or respond to drug treatment?
In general, we would answer the first question yes, the second no, and offer a qualified yes to the third. Our answers rest on several generalizations about race and genetics. Some groups do differ genetically from others, but how groups are divided depends on which genes are examined; simplistically put, you might fit into one group based on your skin-color genes but another based on a different characteristic. Many studies have demonstrated that roughly 90 percent of human genetic variation occurs within a population living on a given continent, whereas about 10 percent of the variation distinguishes continental populations. In other words, individuals from different populations are, on average, just slightly more different from one another than are individuals from the same population.
--------------------------------------Full Article Here (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=00055DC8-3BAA-1FA8-BBAA83414B7F0000)
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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 12-12-03 @ 6:12 PM