I just finished another set of readings for my orals list on “History of American Post-War Science and Feminism” with Susan Lindee. Read my summaries below and make sure to check out Etienne Benson’s site with many more resources on “wilderness” and STS. Continue reading
Tag Archives: genetics
Book Summaries: History, Tools, and Practices of Genetics and Hereditary Science
Here comes another contribution to my summaries for my list with Susan Lindee. Topic of the day: “History, Tools, and Practices of Genetics and Hereditary Science.” My original notes are much longer than what I provide in this essay, but I have a maximum of six pages to deliver. So I had to cut some of my observations. Have fun! Continue reading
Eradicating Evil by Coloring Rodent Neurons?
According to Ghahreman Khodadad (p. 3), Susan Dymecki and her team at Harvard Medical School contribute to deciphering the biological mechanisms underlying “excessive selfishness and aggression.” Ghahreman Khodadad is a remarkable person and on top of that the provider of the CNS’s major endowment for its Public Talk Series. “Dr. K.,” as some Penn neuroscientists lovingly call him, believes that only switching off this “deeply rooted and complex behavioral neurobiological disorder,” the excessive selfishness, can bring peace to human societies.
What follows now is a potentially unintelligible account of the Dymecki Lab’s research as Susan Dymecki presented it on December 4 at Penn, titled: “A Specialized Subtype of Serotonergic Neuron Shapes Social Behavior in Mice.” I did my best to follow along, and the methods of tracing the expression of certain serotonergic neurons are truly fascinating (and somehow totally beyond me). Continue reading