Norman Borlaug

Norman Borlaug was an agronomist who developed a species of high-yield, short-strawed and disease-resistant wheat. Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his humanitarian efforts. He later directed an International Wheat Improvement Program to train scientist in research and production methods.

Timeline

1914	Born in Cresco, Iowa.
1937	Bachelor of Science degree and work at U.S. forestry services in Massachusetts and Idaho.
1939	Masters and Doctorate in plant pathology
1942	Microbiologist at du Pont de Nemours Foundation carrying out research on industrial and agricultural chemicals
1944	Genetist and pathologist for 'Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program' in Mexico
1945	Worked with Mexican scientists on wheat improvement.
1960's	Worked with scientists from India and Pakistan to adapt wheat varieties.
1970	Received Nobel Peace Prize
1972	Worked on triticale, a modified wheat-rye hybrid

He founded the World Food Prize to recognise individual achievement to improve human food quality, quantity and availability.

Norman Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009)

Reference

Nobel Prize Biography

Nobel Lectures, Peace 1951-1970, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972

Redhead Pains

Apparently redheads require more anesthesia during medical procedures. The gene MC₁R is responsible for hair colour and pain receptors. The mutation that results in pheomelanin production, rendering hair red, also increases sensitivity to pain. For complete article, see source:[via Tara Parker-Pope at the New York Times]

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Genetics may be partially responsible for autism spectrum disorders.ASDs have

• affected social behavior,
• problems in verbal and nonverbal communication,
• repetitive behavior and/or
• restricted range of interests.

Original blog post from ScienceBlogs by Greg Laden.

Reference

Bucan M., Abrahams B. S., Wang K., Glessner J.T., Herman E.I., et al. (2009) Genome-wide analyses of exonic copy number variants in a family-based study point to novel autism susceptibility genes. PLoS Genet 5(6): e1000536. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000536

Would you find out the gender of your unborn baby? IntelliGender is about to be in New Zealand.The kit sells for $125 and works at 90% accuracy. Opponents argue that this product facilitate selective abortion. This cultural practice has skewed male to female ratio in many countries.

There are other methods to determine gender, such as sonography and amniocentesis, but invasive procedures increase the risk of miscarriages and birth defects. This chemical test is a non-invasive option using urine.

Parents carrying the genes with serious genetic disorders could benefit from this test. The genes that cause some life-threatening diseases only appear in one gender.

Original article from Stuff.co.nz.

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