18AR23-34

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AR 23:34 - New findings 'altering the fundamentals of evolution'

In this issue:

GENDER - Is the increase in "trans" teenage girls just a tragic fad?

ORIGINS - Scrap your current understanding about human DNA

Apologia Report 23:34 (1,400)

October 18, 2018

GENDER

"Trans Parenting: A paper suggests that the increase in the number of trans teenage girls is partly a social phenomenon" (no byline) -- "Typically, adolescents first show symptoms of gender dysphoria, the clinical term for the distress caused by the feeling that one's body does not match one's gender, in childhood. But in the past decade clinics in Western countries have reported that a growing number of teenagers have started experiencing gender dysphoria during or after puberty. And whereas these young adults used to be predominantly male, now they are more likely to be female. In 2009, 41% of the adolescents referred to Britain's Gender Identity Development Service were female; in 2017, 69% were."

This study by Lisa Littman, a assistant professor of behavioural and social sciences at Brown University, "suggests that these children may be grappling with what she calls 'rapid-onset gender dysphoria'. [And also suggesting] that a process of 'social and peer contagion' may play a role. According to the parents surveyed, 87% of children came out as transgender after spending more time online, after 'cluster outbreaks' of gender dysphoria in friend groups, or both. (In a third of the friendship groups, half or more of the individuals came out as transgender; by contrast, just 0.7% of Americans aged between 18 and 24 are transgender.) Most children who came out became more popular as a result. [One child mentioned in the study], says that when she told her friends, all of whom she had met online, they congratulated her: 'It was, like, welcome home.'

"Ms Littman thinks that some adolescents may embrace the idea that they are transgender as a way of coping with symptoms of a different, underlying issue. Almost two-thirds of the children had one or more diagnoses of a psychiatric or developmental disorder preceding the onset of gender dysphoria; nearly half had self-harmed or experienced some trauma. ...

"The reaction to publication of the study has gone beyond what might be expected in a regular academic dispute. ... Parents and academics have in turn attacked Brown [University] for caving to pressure from trans activists."

One teen described in the article, who is "now 21, believes she latched on to a trans identity as a way of coping with on-off depression and being sexually abused as a child. After receiving therapy, her gender dysphoria disappeared. Had her mother affirmed her gender identity as a 16-year-old, as several gender therapists urged, [she] would have embarked on a medical transition that she turned out not to want after all." The Economist, Sep 1 '18 <www.bit.ly/2C5IZPE>

For a wider discussion of the controversy, see "Many Newspaper Reports Back Up That Blockbuster Study About Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria" by Jamie Shupe (The Federalist, Sep 4 '18) <www.bit.ly/2QFcuff>

For more about related gender issues in our AR database, see <www.bit.ly/2CAAnlf>

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ORIGINS

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, by David Quammen [1] -- the publisher tells us that "Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology can change our understanding of evolution and life's history, with powerful implications for human health and even our own human nature."

Reviewer Sara Catterall summarizes: "An acclaimed science writer tells how recent discoveries in a new field of molecular biology have overturned old ideas of evolution and human identity."

Catterall explains that Quammen <davidquammen.com> is "able to convey difficult scientific ideas with the excitement of their discovery. He balances the technical details with vivid anecdotes, humor and casual charm. This is a serious and entertaining book that will fascinate anyone interested in the history and nature of life."

She notes that "Gene sharing ... is more complex than we previously believed. The boundaries between species are blurry, to say the least. And we are probably descended from a previously unknown category of life, the archaea microbe. 'It's a little like learning, with a jolt, that your great-great-great-grandfather came not from Lithuania but from Mars.'"

Quammen "summarizes the theory of evolution, and discoveries leading up to the relatively recent field called molecular phylogenetics, 'the study of evolutionary relatedness using molecules as evidence.' ...

"Genes don't just flow from parent to child, he writes, but also 'sideways across species boundaries,' including species that were previously considered far removed from each other. This phenomenon is called horizontal gene transfer, and it has destroyed the old notion of distinct species neatly arranged on an evolutionary tree. ... 'Horizontal gene transfer has made the history of life unimaginably more complicated....'" Shelf Awareness, 2:3292 - 2018

Kirkus (Jun 1 '18) gushes: "A masterful history of a new field of molecular biology that has wide-ranging implications regarding 'human identity, human individuality, [and] human health.' [This is] perhaps the most unheralded scientific revolution of the 20th century. [R]esearchers, led by the book's central figure, biophysicist Carl Woese (1928-2012), while comparing bacterial RNA, identified a group so different that they weren't bacteria at all but an entirely new kingdom: the Archaea. ... The tree of life looks more like a web. ... A consistently engaging collection of vivid portraits of brilliant, driven, quarrelsome scientists in the process of dramatically altering the fundamentals of evolution, illuminated by the author's insightful commentary."

Booklist (Jul 1 '18) begins: "The tree of life had served scientists well as a visual expression of the evolutionary process until 'three big surprises' complicated the picture: a whole new category of life, the archaea; horizontal gene transfer; and startling revelations regarding 'our own deepest ancestry.' Best-selling science journalist Quammen ... precisely and vividly explains how these findings have 'tangled' the tree. ... The key, long-controversial figure is Carl Woese, who unveiled the microbial archaea and figured out how to use ribosomal RNA to trace this life-branch's evolution. ... Quammen chronicles the development of molecular phylogenetics, 'the study of evolutionary relatedness using molecules as evidence,' which brings the fascinating Lynn Margulis into the story, along with the wildly 'counterintuitive phenomenon' in which 'living bacteria trade genes' sideways in what is sometimes called 'infective heredity.' We, it turns out, are intricate 'mosaics' full of genes from 'nonhuman, nonprimate sources.' With humor, clarity, and exciting accounts of breakthroughs and feuds, Quammen traces the painstaking revelation of life's truly spectacular complexity."

The New York Times published two different Tangled Tree reviews - the first in its August 7 edition <www.nyti.ms/2Nt4zjb> and another on August 13th <www.nyti.ms/2IPUXOQ> plus a feature article by Quammen himself in its Sunday magazine <www.nyti.ms/2Cxz7PL>

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, by David Quammen (Simon & Schuster, 2018, hardcover, 480 pages) <www.amzn.to/2pIH3VJ>

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