JAMES WATSON, the DNA pioneer who claimed Africans are less intelligent than whites, has been found to have 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European.
An analysis of his genome shows that 16% of his genes are likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1%.
The study was made possible when he allowed his genome - the map of all his genes - to be published on the internet in the interests of science.
“This level is what you would expect in someone who had a great-grandparent who was African,” said Kari Stefansson of deCODE Genetics, whose company carried out the analysis. “It was very surprising to get this result for Jim.”
Watson won the Nobel prize, with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, after working out the structure of DNA in 1953. However, he provoked an outcry earlier this year when he suggested black people were genetically less intelligent than whites.
This weekend his critics savoured the wry twist of fate. Sir John Sulston, the Nobel laureate who helped lead the consortium that decoded the human genome, said the discovery was ironic in view of Watson’s opinions on race. “I never did agree with Watson’s remarks,” he said. “We do not understand enough about intelligence to generalise about race.”
The backlash against Watson forced him to step down as chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York state, after 39 years at the helm. He had said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospects for Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really”.
The analysis by deCODE Genetics, an Icelandic company, also shows a further 9% of Watson’s genes are likely to have come from an ancestor of Asian descent. Watson was not available for comment.
Oh dear. What hope for Africa indeed.....
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"what huge and loathsome abnormality was the Sphinx originally carven to represent? Accursed is the sight, be it in dream or not, that revealed to me the supreme horror - the Unknown God of the Dead, which licks its colossal chops in the unsuspected abyss, fed hideous morsels by soulless absurdities that should not exist" - Harry Houdini "Under the Pyramids"
"The goal of science is to substitute facts for appearances and demonstrations for impressions" - John Ruskin, "Stones of Venice"
Dooey Jo wrote:Maybe he will come forward and claim that this explains his less than intelligent statement...
I loled
Wow that's a lot though 16%. Back in the day he'd be close to an octaroon (acutally more black than one) and just "passing" if the massa felt it in his good graces to do so.
I am the hammer, I am the right hand of my Lord. The instrument of His will and the gauntlet about His fist. The tip of His spear, the edge of His sword. I am His wrath just as he is my shield. I am the bane of His foes and the woe of the treacherous. I am the end.
-Ravus Ordo Militis
"Fear and ignorance claim the unwary and the incomplete. The wise man may flinch away from their embrace if he girds his soul with the armour of contempt."
I remember watching a show on how they came up with the double helix on PBS and how basically Watson and Crick basically jacked Rosalin Franklins X-Ray defraction of DNA. I remember watching the show and Crick saying an almost apologetic "The way we went about it was wrong." and Watson saying something along the lines of "O well bitch was slow." Actually he did seem more prickish of the two through out all the interviews.
I am the hammer, I am the right hand of my Lord. The instrument of His will and the gauntlet about His fist. The tip of His spear, the edge of His sword. I am His wrath just as he is my shield. I am the bane of His foes and the woe of the treacherous. I am the end.
-Ravus Ordo Militis
"Fear and ignorance claim the unwary and the incomplete. The wise man may flinch away from their embrace if he girds his soul with the armour of contempt."
RIPP_n_WIPE wrote:I remember watching a show on how they came up with the double helix on PBS and how basically Watson and Crick basically jacked Rosalin Franklins X-Ray defraction of DNA. I remember watching the show and Crick saying an almost apologetic "The way we went about it was wrong." and Watson saying something along the lines of "O well bitch was slow." Actually he did seem more prickish of the two through out all the interviews.
Crick is also a much more impressive figure than Watson. As well as DNA, he also (with Brenner) proved that three bases of DNA code for one animo acid in a brilliantly clever experiment, and has several other significant contributions to the field. Watson tried to call his book on the discovery of the nature of DNA "Honest Jim", and is generally very distasteful.
"what huge and loathsome abnormality was the Sphinx originally carven to represent? Accursed is the sight, be it in dream or not, that revealed to me the supreme horror - the Unknown God of the Dead, which licks its colossal chops in the unsuspected abyss, fed hideous morsels by soulless absurdities that should not exist" - Harry Houdini "Under the Pyramids"
"The goal of science is to substitute facts for appearances and demonstrations for impressions" - John Ruskin, "Stones of Venice"
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things... their number is negligible and they are stupid. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ah yes, the rarely seen but oft celebrated Gene Serve.
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RIPP_n_WIPE wrote:I remember watching a show on how they came up with the double helix on PBS and how basically Watson and Crick basically jacked Rosalin Franklins X-Ray defraction of DNA. I remember watching the show and Crick saying an almost apologetic "The way we went about it was wrong." and Watson saying something along the lines of "O well bitch was slow." Actually he did seem more prickish of the two through out all the interviews.
Franklins went on the record as saying she never would have figured it out, she was looking at her own data from a point of academic bias.
Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
Its a shame she died before she could share the Nobel.
I know but still you don't ever really hear about her considering they were her photos.
I am the hammer, I am the right hand of my Lord. The instrument of His will and the gauntlet about His fist. The tip of His spear, the edge of His sword. I am His wrath just as he is my shield. I am the bane of His foes and the woe of the treacherous. I am the end.
-Ravus Ordo Militis
"Fear and ignorance claim the unwary and the incomplete. The wise man may flinch away from their embrace if he girds his soul with the armour of contempt."
Its a shame she died before she could share the Nobel.
I know but still you don't ever really hear about her considering they were her photos.
The book Double Helix gives her a great deal of credit. I think that part of it is she died before she could be recognized, otherwise it might've been 'Watson, Crick, and Franklins'.
Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
