Nicholas A. Christakis Quotes

… the policy of genes

Genetic theories, I gather, have been cherished academically with detachment.

We used to think that our destiny is in the stars. Now we know that its in our genes, in our DNA.

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my genes because I can't do anything about them.

Genes are natural resources.

Genetics is about how information is stored and transmitted between generations.

I think genetic research is a fascinating and fertile area.

Heredity is nothing but stored environment.

You can't have life without the genetic code.

Genetics is all about showcasing human beauty along with high-quality performance.

Evolution, cell biology, biochemistry, and developmental biology have made extraordinary progress in the last hundred years - much of it since I was weaned on schoolboy biology in the 1930s. Most striking of all is the sudden eruption of molecular biology starting in the 1950s.

In college, I had an early introduction to classical genetics from Professor Dan Lindsley, also an extraordinary teacher who influenced me greatly.

A solid foundation in genetics is increasingly important for everyone.

The most profound change that genetics brings about might not be scientific at all. It might be mental and even spiritual enrichment: a more expansive sense of who we humans are, existentially, and where we came from, and how we fit with other life on earth.

The elementary particles which form the embryo are each drawn from the corresponding structure in the parent, and conserve a sort of remembrance of their previous form, so that in the offspring they will reflect and reproduce a resemblance to the parents ... We can thus readily explain how new species are formed... by supposing that the elementary particles may not always retain the order which they present in the parents, but may fortuitously produce differences, which, multiplying and accumulating, have resulted in the infinite variety of species which we see at the present time.

One of the things that got me interested in genetics was the relationship between genes and environment. We are all dealt a certain deck of cards, but our environment can influence the outcomes.

Your genetics is not your destiny.

Genes are little items that are found in every living thing except Sen. Alfonse D'Amato.

I have this idea of trying to catalog all the genes on the planet.

Jumping genes are fundamental because they're agents of change. Everybody knows that organisms evolve. What makes them evolve is that their genes are dynamic and in motion. A familiar example is the stripe-y corn - called Indian corn - that you buy in the fall.

There's almost no food that isn't genetically modified. Genetic modification is the basis of all evolution. Things change because our planet is subjected to a lot of radiation, which causes DNA damage, which gets repaired, but results in mutations, which create a ready mixture of plants that people can choose from to improve agriculture.

With the advent of genetic engineering the time required for the evolution of new species may literally collapse.

We owe our existence to innovation. Our species exists thanks to four billion years of genetic innovation.

People think if you have deciphered the genome of humans that you can change everything. But you cannot change everything, because you do not know what the genes mean, and you have no methods for changing them, and you can't do experiments with humans like you can with animals.

Humans are mutants, everything's a mutant - things that evolve.