Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
'Spit Parties:' Social Networking Gattaca-Style
Spit parties will soon be all the rage among upscale New Yorkers, according to genetic testing firm 23andMe.
Here's how it works: At the party, you are presented with a small vial with an attached funnel. While salivating over party hors d'oeuvres, you gracefully expectorate a small volume of genetic material into the small vial. This material is then submitted to the testing company, which, for just $399, performs a DNA analysis. A month or so later, you receive the results.
(Spit Party just getting started)
You might be surprised at the variety of information available. 23andMe claims to provide information about more than 80 diseases, conditions and traits that might describe you. In addition, information about your genetic heritage, including the continental origins of your line, utilizing the latest research. The company claims to fund the genotyping of more than 50 ethnic groups worldwide to make sure that a diverse population is used for comparison.
Even better, customers are encouraged to share their results via their online datasheets. Your data is rigorously protected with encryption and regular security audits, which should help a lot after you've shared it with Paris, Britney's mom and the rest of your friends.
(Spit Party data presentation)
It's too bad that this information can't be made available quicker, like maybe the very night of the party. If somebody can come up with immediate automated DNA typing, that might be possible.
The ability of companies to perform checks of your DNA that give details on possible medical conditions and other traits you have, along with your ancestry, combined with the encouraged social setting, is uncomfortably close to the milieu from the movie Gattica.
(Gattaca: Can the imperfect mix socially with the perfect?)
In the film, social strata and work relationships are strictly organized along genetic lines; the people whose DNA is found to be "perfect" are discouraged from socializing with people whose DNA doesn't measure up.
Once hooked on genetic insight into yourself and your friends, you might want to subscribe to their classy blog the Spittoon for the latest information.
From 23andMe.com via NYTimes. Thanks also to Moira for submitting her material on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/17/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
Heart Patches Grown In The Lab Repair Hearts
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
Pixel Watch 'Loss of Pulse Detection' And Philip K. Dick
'He carried on his person a triggering mechanism sensitive to his heartbeat.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.
ErythroMer Artificial Blood
'My chemists are all working on the preparation of the artificial blood.' - Dr. David H. Keller, M.D.
MouthPad Supports Head And Tongue Tracking
'The operation that had transformed half his body... had located the control switchboard in his teeth.'- Alfred Bester, 1956.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
Anthropic's Claude AI Creates Legal Citation From Whole Cloth
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
'About time you got here,' the astronaut said.
'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
'...using a neutralizing electronic impulse.'
Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?'
Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
'Better late than never.'
Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
'The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.'
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
