Science & Technology What do you want to learn from your genes, what do you not want to know, how would you use the information, and who would you tell about it? (July 12, 2010) Read full discussion >
Fyodor Urnov, associate adjunct professor in the department of molecular and cell biology | 9/17/10 | |
 Dear students,
What is your first reaction to this: Quod licet Jovi, non licet bovi?
If you answered: “I don’t speak Latin, and neither do you, Professor” — you are correct.
That said, this amusingly elitist phrase means: “there are certain things that only certain types of people – the gods, the kings, the rich and powerful – are allowed to do; the common people are not allowed to do such things.”
(“What is appropriate for Jupiter is not appropriate for the bull” is the verbatim translation, found using Larry and Sergey’s search engine; fortunately no one told them back when they were sitting … More >
Brad DeLong, professor of economics | 8/31/10 |
 I was going to write another post about how increasing genetic knowledge ought to push us toward something like single-payer health care, but Bill Hoffman of the University of Minnesota reminds me that my friend Steve Cecchetti at Brandeis wrote it three years ago–and wrote it better than my draft post.
So I am canning my draft post, and turning the microphone over to Steve Cecchetti of Brandeis:
The inevitable future of health care: Economists believe in markets. Market-determined prices allocate scarce resources efficiently, encouraging individuals to put them to their best possible uses. This improves everyone’s welfare. But there are times … More >
Brad DeLong, professor of economics | 8/29/10 | |
Put me down as one of those who was puzzled when Dean Mark Schlissel said on “All Things Considered,” of the three genes to be tested in “bring your genes to Cal”:
The Berkeley Daily Planet: [W]e purposefully chose three genes that are not disease associated…
People who are lactose-intolerant are more likely to develop hip fractures late in life–especially if they do not regularly take their calcium supplements. People with a low ability to metabolize alcohol are unlikely to become alcoholics–but if they do, they (at least as I read the literature) may be at greater risk of developing cirrhosis of … More >
Ann Marie Marciarille, health law expert | 8/24/10 | |
 Yours has been described as a generation with no sense of privacy. This is usually not said in a good way. I want to suggest, instead, that ours is a society with a transformed sense of privacy, one often at odds with itself. And we can see remnants of this ambivalence about the modern meaning of privacy in the design of the OTSP Program on Personalized Medicine. My goal here is to get you thinking a little bit about the informed consent form you may have already signed for this program/or may be considering signing as a quick introduction to … More >
Jasper Rine, professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development | 7/13/10 | |
 To the 2010 entering class of the College of Letters and Science, welcome to the first official blog for the On the Same Page program and my first blog entry ever. By now you certainly are aware that the topic of this year’s program is Personalized Medicine. Whether you have chosen to provide a DNA sample or not, you are part of the first experiment of its kind: an experiment in education exploring whether having some personal knowledge about your genetic make up will heighten your interest in, and connection to the subject. We in the college of Letters and … More >
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