Vexen

I challenge you or anyone to say otherwise. My enthusiasm for it was enhanced by the video game, but it's not the foundation of my thoughts on the matter. NASA and other private space companies are just waiting to terraform Mars(http://quest.nasa.gov/mars/background/terra.html).

I don't know about you, but I live in a universe that is billions of light years in size. Let's terraform Mars or some other planet. I just finished playing mass effect, it's completely possibility. We could build a citadel like the Protheans.

Exactly But why should we care about nature. It is completely indifferent to our existence. Let's acknowledged nature, that's all.

On what basis do you claim that religion and science can coexist. Religion has adapted to science as history shows. Increasingly, conflict between religion and science has inhibited scientific research. But, science and religion can coexist as long as religion respects science.

I want to alter my genome, sync my mind with a supercomputer and travel the galaxy at the speed of light (or through wormholes). These people are not going to tell me this is unnatural. I won't have it. Only traditional, religious and other dogmatic people that have these types of views. The thoughtful will always challenge their ideas in society. We know that evolution is random process that created imperfect humans. Thus, we must use our minds to fix our imperfections and further improve ourselves. People contradict themselves on this point. They want to be considered outside of the animal Kingdom, yet they want to be more animalistic. Side Note: I wish I knew some of the people on this forum ,because you "guys" are very thoughtful, always challenging the conventional

Agreed

Gene therapy - This field focus on transferring gene to human cells. RNA interference (RNAi) - This technique prevents gene expression by inhibiting RNA translation Genome editing - People have discovered and developed enzymes that can remove genes from the genome. It is possible to remove HIV from the human genome. Drug delivery - Synthetic lipoproteins can be used to deliver drugs specifically to cancer cells DNA synthesis - This allows us to create life from digital code. The DNA sequence of a virus (not considered life) was sent over the Internet and the virus was created by synthesising the genome. DNA sequence - Used for disease diagnosis Stem cell research - Used for disease modelling currently but it will be used to treat disease and grow organs Monoclonal antibodies Genetic engineering - Mostly a field concerned with altering bacteria and plants for beneficial products

Ophiolite Dealing with your assertion that agnosticism is a better position than atheism or theism. To be uncertain whether God exists is fine. Atheism is not a dogma unlike theism. I think it is highly unlikely that the Gods described by Christians, Jewish or Muslims exist. Agnosticism is not a fourth position. It is compatible with theism, atheism and deism. It is merely a postulation of uncertainty about God's existence. Personally, I know that the more information you have about a particular God, your uncertainty decreases. From your answer it seems you are somewhat indifferent to people's belief. A position that most people have.

I was convinced after about 1 year of watching Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens and reading their literature complemented by my own thoughts. All of this occurred in the confines of my own mind, an important aspect when emancipation from religion. Confinement prevents the ego from inhibiting rationality. I never imagined there even existed people who did not believe in God until I saw these guys. So, I thank them.

The attached picture shows the various receptors required by HIV to enter a cell. See the following article for mechanisms of HIV: HIV-1 Resistance to Maraviroc Conferred by a CD4 Binding Site Mutation in the Envelope Glycoprotein gp120 Annette N. Ratcliffa,b, Wuxian Shic and Eric J. Artsa,b (http://jvi.asm.org/content/87/2/923.full)

To fellow atheists The emotional comfort religious belief provides is something I observe on a daily basis. Everyday I read a Facebook post about putting your trust in God during difficult "times". Personally, I have a girlfriend who is a dedicated Christian. As you can infer, I am an atheist. This contradiction in belief, at "times", plays its tole on my mind. However, I have learnt to deal with such contradictions as all my family and friends are apparently religious. Additionally, I remain, in their view, a fellow theist. I'm just looking for some allies, people who are expressing this strange dilemma I encounter. Provide your story about people you know who rely on God's grace or whatever your view is on this dilemma. The presumption of this discussion is that an all-caring God does not exist and a belief in such an entity is mainly, in a sense, an opiate.

Hi, Your question pertains to the molecular mechanism of recessive and dominance among alleles. Mendelian genetics in light of modern genetics becomes somewhat confusing. In short, genes interact in a complex manner and there is no single reason for dominance. A single allele may be dominant or recessive depending on other alleles. Firstly, your analysis of mendelian genetics is somewhat simplistic. For example, there are various different forms of allele interactions such as codominance. Secondly, Mendelian genetics fails to explain the reasons for dominance and recessive alleles. The reasons for dominance are explained by modern genetics. For example, one study showed that small RNA expressed by one allele suppressed the expression of another allele (look at the picture attached). Hope this helps

Hi, In short, yes T cells and all other nucleated express MHC class 1 molecules. There are two types of MHC molecules, MHC class 1 and 2. All nucleated cells express MHC 1 molecules when infected (including T cells). Cytotoxic T (CD8) cells only recognise MHC 1 molecules. When cells are infected with viruses, they express MHC 1 molecules.This allows cytotoxic T cells to destroy infected cells. MHC class 2 molecules are only expressed by professional antigen presenting cells (APCs) such as macrophages. APC capture extracellular antigens and present them via MHC 2 molecules. The presented antigen is recognised by Helper T (CD4) cells(cytotoxic t cells cannot recognise MHC 2 molecules because they don't have CD4 coreceptors). Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can only enter cells with CD4 coreceptors, thus HIV can only infect helper T cells and not cytotoxic T cells. For this reason, it is often said that HIV patients have a decreased CD4+ count. As a result, the effects of helper T cells are significantly reduced. On a side note, if the CD4 coreceptors are mutated, HIV may not be able to infect helper T cells. Such occurrences have been reported. Hope this post aids you. I'm a student in South Africa (the country with the highest HIV prevalence) studying molecular biology.