Nexus - 0104 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page 6 of 44

Page 6 of 44
Nexus - 0104 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

among the Vikings. Biologists from the University of California in Berkeley have traced a particular gene, present in all the world’s 5 billion inhabitants to a single woman they call Eve, who lived 200,000 years % ago. ig The Berkeley group examined the special set of genes possessed by all Tibetan Peace Plan Causes Riot Ina September address to U.S. Congress- men in the Capitol, the Dalai Lamacalled for the demilitarisation of Tibet and | negotiations with China on Tibet’s fu- humans.which are caried withinthecell I ture. This would enable India to with- cytoplasm or body (unlike most which draw from the Himalayas. China has F, < Ns ¥ ie f U are caried within the nucleus) called mi- (rm humans. ~——___ |l zone of peace” in Nepal and if Tibet Echoetris, which cones Motuee | Wa Are the Missing Link ]} were a neutral Buddhist nation it would 4 ast culty iMacs mhecbokien US. research into DNA has shown that complete a buffer separating the from our mother (sperm do not carry mi- chimpanzees are humans closest rela- continent’s great Powers. There are an tochondria) and this helped the biologists tives. A Florida University research estimated halfa million Chinese troops in come to this conclusion. The researchers | 2°OUP cartied out a letter-by-letter com- Tibet, as well as medium-range missile persuaded 147 women from America, parison ofa 7,100-digit segment of DNA }} facilities. Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle code from the beta-globin gene in hu- | In Lhasa, 15,000 people were gath- East to donate their babies’ placentas mans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang- |] ered in Triyue Trang Stadium fora public : a ’ | outangs. Finding single-letter differ- |} trial in which eight Tibetans were sen- which were broken down to pure DNA. F The mitochondrial DNA differences | 2S showed mutations and the total of |} tenced to death. One of the condemned ‘ differences in the DNA code of diverging |] men was executed on the spot, another were clear, but barely any alteration be- Nees 3 : F tween races was found. The biologists species gives a relative measure of how |] two days later. While Chinese radio believe there is a 2 to 4% change in long ago they shared acommon ancestor, |] broadcasts condemned US. interfer- mitochrondrial genes over 1 million Asecond study by Dr. Charles Sibley |} ence, posters containing the Dalai of San Francisco University and Dr.John |} Lama’s speech appeared around Barkhor aie : Ahlguist of Ohio University measured || Square. There were mass arrests of Dating Eve the evolutionary distance between hu- |} crowds of Tibetan monks and laity They claim Eve’s origins were in Africa, | mans and the three ape species by atech- |] around the Jokhang temple and two after comparing the differences between | nique called DNA hybridisation. They |] westerners were detained by police who every possible pairing of the samples | found thal humans and chimpanzees had |] confiscated their cameras and film. taken from the newborn babies. From | diverged by 1.6% of their genetic code, Two to three thousand Tibetans gath- this they drew up a family tree, linking all | humans and gorillas by 1.7%. The sur- |} ered around the building where the the individuals according to the relation- | prise was that the chimpanzee-gorilla |} monks were held. Security forces, in- ship of their genes. Two branches or | figure was 2.1%. The conclusion was that |] cluding some forty to fifty plainclothes groups were apparent, one including | both gorillas and chimpanzees are more |} Officers, tried unsuccessfully to take indi- certain Africans and, the second, other | closely related to humans than to each |] viduals from the crowd. In the ensuing Africans and groups. Believed to be dark | other, making chimpanzees man’s clos- |} violence the building was set alight and skinned and dark haired, Eve was a | est relative. police opened fire with automatic weap- | nomad who roamed sub-Sahara Africa. Will manipulating DNA improve our |f ons, killing at least nine people. There were maybe a few thousand inher | quality of life by ridding us of inherited In October the U.S. Senate unani- original group and it is believed Eve was | diseases, giving us cures for cancers, |} mously passed a resolution condemning more fruitful than the rest, explaining | multiplying food in shortages, giving us || human rights violations in Tibet and why her progeny multiplied. Her descen- | new powers of pest eradication and con- |] supporting the Dalai Lama’s five point dants left Africa between 80,000 and | trol - and will italso give us the power to |} peace plan. While Chinese reinforce- 190,000 years ago, moving across Asia | create frightening new diseases, created |] ments poured into Lhasa the Chinese and Europe, supplanting Neanderthal | specifically to allack certain races? Foreign Ministry announced that the humans and ancient Homo sapiens. Should we release into the biosphere |] government of the Tibetan Autonomous Emory University researchers col- | genetically engineered bacteria, or muta- |] Region was banning all travel to the re- lected blood samples.from more than700 | tions of animal, plant and human |{ gion by foreigners. people on four continents, charting a | lifeforms which could present a serious + Our Himalayan correspondent family tree which also went back | danyer to the environment? Do we know 200,000 years. They found similarities | enough to be able to decide? The human between human DNA and that of apes in | race will always feel the need to control, Asia and decided that south-east China | discover and learn - but how should we was a more likely starting point of mod- | attempt to play the God of nature? § TIBETAN NEW YEAR § J 4"LOSAR" CELEBRATION 3 % 7:30p.m. Sunday February 21st 3 Chatswood Town Hall g Enquiries - phone Nawang on (02) 628 3292 Tibetan Peace