The Human Genome

Dr. Dunton’s lecture on September 7 was able to open my eyes to many different aspects of the human race in the view of science. Her lecture was also able to show me how science could be able to influence how I could view myself in the realm of the entire world or universe. Dr. Dunston mentioned the arguments from years ago about whether or not the Earth was the center of the solar system, which led to the confirmation of the Sun being the center of our solar system. Dr. Dunston then proceeded to tell us that there were multiple galaxies and universes and that our Sun was just a small part of those many different systems. I found that to be interesting and wondered whether or not that meant that we were small in the place that we were or if it meant that we might be a small part of a giant system but we should all still make our difference in where we can. Dr. Dunston also enlightened us on the Human Genome and told us about how much was included in the genome. The different aspects that we use to define ourselves, such as race, hair, etc., were only a small part of what was inside of the genome. I found it interesting that she was basically saying that there was so much more to us that what we had been using to define ourselves. The Human Genome Project was, in a way, a method to learn our true potential and to give us the knowledge that we were worth more than we had assumed ourselves to be worth.

Shayna McCormack