Word: humanity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...studies aim to learn about how forests and landscapes react to climate change, pollution and human disturbances...
Both the festivity and the pervading spirit of optimism could be traced to an declaration last Wednesday that researchers working on the Human Genome Project had successfully decoded an entire human chromosome--an incredible milestone for the field of genetics and for science in general. For those unfamiliar with the history behind the announcement, the Human Genome Project is a public initiative that was started in 1990 and that involves a consortium of universities from around the world (it is financed in the United States by the National Institutes of Health). The ultimate goal is to map each and every...
...remaining 22 chromosomes should be mapped by the projected 2005 completion date--the debate around the nature of the work is reaching a fevered pitch. If millennium doomsdayers seem frightening with their predictions of global demise, they don't hold a candle to the groups that claim that the Human Genome Project is the first step towards an existence straight out of Huxley's Brave New World...
...although we may be opening a Pandora's Box of sorts by attempting to determine the exact nature of what makes each individual a human, there are many ways in which humanity can benefit from the project. On Chromosome 22 alone, scientists have identified more than 20 genes that can often cause fatal diseases when defective, including the genes for DiGeorge and cat eye syndromes. Knowing the exact location of these genes is the first step towards finding ways to cure or even prevent such diseases. And by comparing the human genome to the genetic code of other organisms...
While Moscow insists that no more than 1,000 civilians remain with the estimated 5,000 Chechen fighters in Grozny, Chechen officials claim the number of civilians is closer to 50,000. Western human rights monitors in the region warned over the weekend that civilians in Grozny face starvation, and were unable to flee because of the constant bombardment. Whether or not a humanitarian catastrophe unfolds in Grozny, the siege of the city may be a sign of a new type of warfare. "This isn't really country against country," says TIME U.N. correspondent William Dowell. "It's Russia fighting...