"Joseph Delaney - Brainchild" - читать интересную книгу автора (Delaney Joseph)

a project that didn't have a commercial object?"
"That would depend on the project. Naturally we try to select things
that produce revenue, because that's what supports our research. But
that's not the only criterion ..."
"Let me stop you there, Doctor. Please just answer the questions
simply."
"I was about to say . . ."
тАЬDoctor, please!"
Blatchley settled back. Ruth had warned him about this tactic. It was
designed to get a witness rattled; to trap him into simple answers that
sounded wrong.
"Let's go on, Doctor; you said Dr. Schoonover started the project eight
or ten years ago, with your approval. What was the object of the
research?"
"Dr. Schoonover was working on congenital birth defects, specifically,
neurological defectsтАФthe kind responsible for mental retardation with
hereditary causes. He was attempting to find genetic methods of
eliminating them."
"Do you know how he intended to do this?"
"Yes."
"Can you explain it to me?"
 "Yes, I can explain it. The question is whether you will understand it. I
don't know how good your scientific education is."
Touch ├й, Ruth thought. The old man was following the game plan.
Monte started stonewalling. "Well, Doctor, just explain it to me as you
would any average, run-of-the-mill high school student, with average
intelligence, who took the average subjects and got the average grades."
"That's a tall order, but I'll try. To begin with, you have to understand
that life doesn't just grow, like Topsy. Any organism follows plans. The
plans differ slightly even in individuals of the same species. Differences
increase as relationships between species grow more remote. We call the
plan the genetic code. The name's derived from the primary unit, the gene.
Genetic alignment changes slightly from generation to generation, and
forms combinations that are almost endless in variety. Statistically, it's a
fairly predictable system; individually it's highly unpredictable." He looked
the D.A. squarely in the eye. "O.K. so far?"
"Yes, go on, Doctor."
"Natural forces affect genes; therefore they also affect heredity, which is
the key to evolutionary process. Back to that in a moment, but first let me
say that man also affects evolution by what he does, and has since time
began. For instance, causing a species to prosper by domesticating it, or
causing its extinction by hunting it or overrunning its habitat. Man has
been responsible for most of the changes in animal evolution in modern
geologic times.
"He also learned to select stock for breeding or for planting, and he
understood the results this produced even if he didn't know why. It was
pretty much a cut-and-try affair until Mendel explained it in statistical
terms a couple of centuries ago.
"Genetic changes can produce beneficial results, but they can also
produce the other kind. Effects such as Huntington's Disease, the sickle