As systems theory, cybernetics and complexity science have shown us: what we humans see as chaos is often nature’s notion of order. As such the terms tend to become confusing. Even in a socio-cultural context, ‘normality’ or what we consider to be the ‘norms’ we live by, are based upon agreement and/or knowledge available. Changes in either one of these contextual parameters, shifts the norm including the systems built or grown around them. Looking at either the past or the future, leads people to see things in contrast with the present. As such differences become apparent and we become aware of certain assumptions underlying the systems we live by, assumptions, ‘norms’ we took for granted.

As scientific discoveries further our understanding our norms often shift in response to the new knowledge attained.

A nice example of this can be found in a study recently published by Nature Medicine in which a research team from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) shows that “most early human embryos carry chromosomal anomalies”. More specifically, they discovered “that genomes of embryos are unstable and share features with tumors.”

Prof. Joris Vermeesch from the Center of Human Genetics at Leuven University Hospitals explains:

“It was known that some chromosomal anomalies occurred in some embryos, but the surprising discovery is that the type, complexity, and frequency of those chromosomal rearrangements is much higher than anticipated. Our results show that those aberrations are not restricted to embryos derived from couples with fertility problems, but are a common feature of regular embryogenesis”

The findings are expected to have a significant impact on preimplantation genetic testing and strategies to improve human fertility.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 16:51 and is filed under future, science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.