UNDERSTANDING GENETICS: DNA, Genes and Their Real-World Applications By Professor David Sadava

…..Disruptive Genetic Technology 

This Great Courses presentation is very well done. Professor David Sadava knows his material inside and out. It is a joy to hear him deliver the complicated concepts that are necessary to understand even the most rudimentary ideas that relate to genetics. The very technical information in his lectures flows off his lips as easy as a Trekker would explain the reasons for his preference of Picard over Kirk. Prof. Sadava is really good at pointing out the recent discoveries in the field of DNA research that are revolutionizing our understanding of the way the human body works. Whether you are a Darwinist or a Creationist you will marvel at the incredible complexity of life that is now being revealed by modern advances in research. It is amazing what can be done with the building blocks of DNA once its structure and chemical make-up is known. We now have a herd of just eighteen cows excreting the entire world demand for Human Growth hormone in their milk. Sheep now make insulin in the protein of their milk. We now have bacteria that eat oil spills; others glow in the dark in the presence of land mines with TNT. In this course you will learn the way vaccines work—by prompting the body’s existing immune system to produce antibodies. The varied applications of genetic research is a tribute to the ingenuity of modern man.

David Sadava is a materialistic scientist, and therefore his sense of right and wrong takes on a very pragmatic nature. Moral issues are not deeply considered. He recounts dispassionately the decisions of people acting of information garnered through genetic testing with no regard to the morality of those decisions. Couples desiring healthy babies are using the information made available to us through genetic research to select for a superior human babies. Who doesn’t want healthy babies? The unspoken down-side, recounted in Lecture 18, is that genetic screening leads to Jewish babies being aborted after they are discovered to be afflicted with Tay Sachs disease, or multiple embryos dying in the test-tube when their healthy sibling is inserted into the mother’s uterus. This criticism of the morality of this course does not detract from the ability of Professor Sadava to provoke one’s thoughts. On the contrary, people with deeply held moral convictions need to keep informed on the advances of genetic science. This is a stimulating and educational set of lectures that I recommend to anyone with an interest in how things work. Moralists and theologians need to listen to this course to keep abreast of the social change that is being conducted in the absence of their guidance.

The Professor ends the series with the sentence, “The genetic genie is out of the bottle.” Apparently even those closest to the scientific discipline of Genetic research realize that we have move very far very fast—so fast that the long-term consequences cannot be predicted with surety. Obviously Sadava is of the belief that the problems we may have already caused can be fixed by future scientists. I think he places too much trust in the men in The Men in the White Lab Coats. By cutting and splicing genes we are not merely dabbling with a harmless genie that has the potential to cure mankind’s problems with disease and hunger. We are like children playing in God’s toy box; breaking apart what to us looks to be just a bunch of Lego parts that can be reassembled in the way that seems right to us; when in reality we have no idea of the complex interactions we are causing to the environment and to our own bodies. We have not released a benevolent genie. We have opened Pandora’s Box.

…..Other books useful for aspiring geneticists and ethicists:

INHERITANCE by Sharon Moalem

THE SPORTS GENE by David Epstein

THE VIRAL STORM by Nathan Wolfe

THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION by Michael Behe