A reaction to Sowell's book raises issues about behaviorally based diagnoses, stressing that developmental disorders are behaviorally defined dimensions along a continuum with no crisp partition between normalcy and disorders. It sees developmental disorders as usually the expression of extremely complex, multigenic influences on brain…

Describes evolutionary developmental psychology as the study of the genetic and ecological mechanisms that govern the development of social and cognitive competencies common to all human beings and the epigenetic (gene-environment interactions) processes that adapt these competencies to local conditions. Outlines basic assumptions and domains of…

Reviews recent research on the etiologies of autism, including genetic research, anatomic and neuroimaging studies, topics in neurophysiology research (including serotonin, dopamine, and opiods), immunologic research, studies of autism phenotype, and electroencephalographic studies. It concludes that, as of yet, research has found no clear…

Examines the outcomes of a unit that integrates explicit teaching of general reasoning patterns into the teaching of a specific science content. Focuses on the teaching of argumentation skills in the context of dilemmas in human genetics. (Contains 50 references.) (Author/YDS)

Uses DNA laboratories to apply three different active learning strategies to undergraduate education: (1) teaming students; (2) opening laboratories; and (3) linking experiments. Discusses the effectiveness of the stream method on student attitudes and understanding. (YDS)

Provides information on the experiences of 50 children displaced during Argentina's "dirty war" of the 1970s who underwent DNA and protein analysis and subsequently were reunited with their biological families. Considers not only genetic evidence but the moral, political, and emotional dimensions of these children's stories as well.…

In this article, the authors examined the genetic and environmental factors influencing expressive language development in a sample of 386 toddler twin pairs participating in the Wisconsin Twin Project. Expressive language was assessed using 2 measures from the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories-Short Form: Total Vocabulary and…

Objective: To review the past 10 years of published research on psychiatric aspects of child and adolescent obesity and highlight information mental health professionals need for preventing obesity in youths and diagnosing and treating it. Method: Researchers performed computerized and manual searches of the literature and summarized the most…

Objective: To examine the development of first-onset major depressive disorder (MDD) in children at high and low familial risk for depression in a prospective study. Method: High-risk children (n = 76) who were free of any lifetime affective disorder and had at least one first-degree and one second-degree relative with a lifetime history of…

This article introduces the subject of bioprospecting to students. It is a very old biotechnology that involves some very new techniques. Genetic engineering and other processes allow biologists, chemists, and biotechnologists to collect microorganisms and change them in ways that previously were not possible. Organisms that thrive under adverse…

Life as people know it here on Earth exchanges energy and materials with the environment. Life forms grow, develop, produce waste products, and reproduce, storing genetic information in DNA and RNA and passing it from one generation to the next. Life evolves, adapting to changes in the environment and changing the environment in return. The basic…

The life cycle of retroviruses is an essential topic of modern cell biology instruction. Furthermore, the process of HIV viral entry into the cell is a question of great interest in basic and clinical biology. This paper describes how students can easily recover their own DNA, amplify a portion of the "CCR5" chemokine receptor gene, characterize…

In departure from the standard approach of using several problems to cover specific topics in a class, I use a single problem to cover the contents of the entire semester-equivalent biochemistry classes. I have developed a problem-based service-learning (PBSL) problem on HIV/AIDS to cover nucleic acid concepts that are typically taught in the…

A practical experiment on the PCR is described that has been used over several years as part of an undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology course for chemistry students. In the first experimental session, students prepare their own DNA samples from epithelial cells of the mouth and use them as templates in the PCR. In the second session,…

The genetic and environmental etiologies of diverse aspects of language ability and disability, including articulation, phonology, grammar, vocabulary, and verbal memory, were investigated in a U.K. sample of 787 pairs of 4.5-year-old same-sex and opposite-sex twins. Moderate genetic influence was found for all aspects of language in the normal…