TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index G > Category: Genome

Genome Quotes (15 quotes)

[Decoding the human genome sequence] is the most significant undertaking that we have mounted so far in an organized way in all of science. I believe that reading our blueprints, cataloguing our own instruction book, will be judged by history as more significant than even splitting the atom or going to the moon.
Interview (23 May 1998), 'Cracking the Code to Life', Academy of Achievement web site.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Blueprint (9)  |  Book (413)  |  Catalog (5)  |  Going (6)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Judgement (8)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mount (43)  |  Organization (120)  |  Reading (136)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Significance (114)  |  Significant (78)  |  Splitting (3)  |  Splitting The Atom (4)  |  Undertaking (17)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

[Describing a freshman seminar titled “How the Tabby Cat Got Her Stripes or The Silence of the Genes”:] The big idea we start with is: “How is the genome interpreted, and how are stable decisions that affect gene expression inherited from one cell to the next? This is one of the most competitive areas of molecular biology at the moment, and the students are reading papers that in some instances were published this past year. As a consequence, one of the most common answers I have to give to their questions is, “We just don't know.”
As quoted by Kitta MacPherson in 'Exploring Epigenetics: President Shirley Tilghman in the Classroom,' Princeton University Undergraduate Admission web page accessed 14 Oct 2013.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Biology (232)  |  Cat (52)  |  Cell (146)  |  Common (447)  |  Competitive (8)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Decision (98)  |  Effect (414)  |  Expression (181)  |  Freshman (3)  |  Gene (105)  |  Idea (881)  |  Inherit (35)  |  Inherited (21)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Molecular Biology (27)  |  Moment (260)  |  Most (1728)  |  Next (238)  |  Paper (192)  |  Past (355)  |  Publication (102)  |  Question (649)  |  Reading (136)  |  Recent (78)  |  Seminar (5)  |  Silence (62)  |  Stable (32)  |  Start (237)  |  Student (317)  |  Year (963)

A DNA sequence for the genome of bacteriophage ΦX174 of approximately 5,375 nucleotides has been determined using the rapid and simple “plus and minus” method. The sequence identifies many of the features responsible for the production of the proteins of the nine known genes of the organism, including initiation and termination sites for the proteins and RNAs. Two pairs of genes are coded by the same region of DNA using different reading frames.
[Paper co-author]
Frederick Sanger, et al., 'Nucleotide Sequence of Bacteriophage ΦX174 DNA', Nature (1977), 265, 687.
Science quotes on:  |  Author (175)  |  Bacteriophage (2)  |  Code (31)  |  Determination (80)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  DNA (81)  |  Feature (49)  |  Frame (26)  |  Gene (105)  |  Identification (20)  |  Initiation (8)  |  Known (453)  |  Method (531)  |  Nucleotide (6)  |  Organism (231)  |  Paper (192)  |  Plus (43)  |  Production (190)  |  Protein (56)  |  Reading (136)  |  Region (40)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Simple (426)  |  Site (19)  |  Termination (4)  |  Two (936)

As was predicted at the beginning of the Human Genome Project, getting the sequence will be the easy part as only technical issues are involved. The hard part will be finding out what it means, because this poses intellectual problems of how to understand the participation of the genes in the functions of living cells.
Loose Ends from Current Biology (1997), 71.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Easy (213)  |  Function (235)  |  Gene (105)  |  Hard (246)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Human Genome Project (6)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Involved (90)  |  Living (492)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Participation (15)  |  Predict (86)  |  Problem (731)  |  Project (77)  |  Research (753)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)

Domesticated biotechnology, once it gets into the hands of housewives and children, will give us an explosion of diversity of new living creatures … New lineages will proliferate to replace those that monoculture farming and deforestation have destroyed. Designing genomes will be a personal thing, a new art form as creative as painting or sculpture. Few of the new creations will be masterpieces, but a great many will bring joy to their creators and variety to our fauna and flora.
In 'Our Biotech Future', The New York Review of Books (2007). As quoted and cited in Kenneth Brower, 'The Danger of Cosmic Genius', The Atlantic (Dec 2010).
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Biotechnology (6)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creative (144)  |  Creator (97)  |  Creature (242)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Design (203)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Farming (8)  |  Fauna (13)  |  Flora (9)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Housewife (2)  |  Joy (117)  |  Living (492)  |  Masterpiece (9)  |  Monoculture (2)  |  New (1273)  |  Painting (46)  |  Personal (75)  |  Replace (32)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Variety (138)  |  Will (2350)

I would like to see us continue to explore space. There's just a lot for us to keep learning. I think it’s a good investment, so on my list of things that I want our country to invest in—in terms of research and innovation and science, basic science, exploring space, exploring our oceans, exploring our genome—we’re at the brink of all kinds of new information. Let's not back off now!
At Town Hall Meeting, Dover, New Hampshire (16 Jul 2015). As quoted in Clare Foran, 'Hillary Clinton: I Wanted to Be an Astronaut', National Journal (16 Jul 2015).
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Basic (144)  |  Brink (2)  |  Continue (179)  |  Country (269)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Good (906)  |  Information (173)  |  Innovation (49)  |  Invest (20)  |  Investment (15)  |  Kind (564)  |  Learning (291)  |  List (10)  |  Lot (151)  |  New (1273)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Research (753)  |  See (1094)  |  Space (523)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Want (504)

President Clinton at podium + Quote “our children's children will know the term cancer only as a constellation of stars”
President Clinton at the Human Genome Announcement at the White House (20 Jun 2000), with Francis S. Collins (left) and Craig Ventner. (source)
It is now conceivable that our children's children will know the term cancer only as a constellation of stars. [Speaking on the Human Genome Project's progress.]
From White House Announcement of the Completion of the First Survey of the Entire Human Genome Project, broadcast on the day of the publication of the first draft of the human genome. Quoted in transcript on the National Archives, Clinton White House web site, 'Text of Remarks on the Completion of the First Survey of the Entire Human Genome Project' (26 Jun 2000).
Science quotes on:  |  Cancer (61)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Conceivable (28)  |  Constellation (18)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Human Genome Project (6)  |  Know (1538)  |  Progress (492)  |  Project (77)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Term (357)  |  Will (2350)

It is tautological to say that an organism is adapted to its environment. It is even tautological to say that an organism is physiologically adapted to its environment. However, just as in the case of many morphological characters, it is unwarranted to conclude that all aspects of the physiology of an organism have evolved in reference to a specific milieu. It is equally gratuitous to assume that an organism will inevitably show physiological specializations in its adaptation to a particular set of conditions. All that can be concluded is that the functional capacities of an organism are sufficient to have allowed persistence within its environment. On one hand, the history of an evolutionary line may place serious constraints upon the types of further physiological changes that are readily feasible. Some changes might require excessive restructuring of the genome or might involve maladaptive changes in related functions. On the other hand, a taxon which is successful in occupying a variety of environments may be less impressive in individual physiological capacities than one with a far more limited distribution.
In W.R. Dawson, G.A. Bartholomew, and A.F. Bennett, 'A Reappraisal of the Aquatic Specializations of the Galapagos Marine Iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)', Evolution (1977), 31, 891.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Allow (51)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Assume (43)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Case (102)  |  Change (639)  |  Character (259)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Condition (362)  |  Constraint (13)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Environment (239)  |  Equally (129)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Evolutionary (23)  |  Excessive (24)  |  Far (158)  |  Feasible (3)  |  Function (235)  |  Functional (10)  |  Gratuitous (2)  |  Hand (149)  |  History (716)  |  Impressive (27)  |  Individual (420)  |  Inevitably (6)  |  Involve (93)  |  Less (105)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Line (100)  |  Milieu (5)  |  More (2558)  |  Morphological (3)  |  Occupy (27)  |  On The Other Hand (40)  |  Organism (231)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  Persistence (25)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Place (192)  |  Readily (10)  |  Reference (33)  |  Relate (26)  |  Require (229)  |  Restructuring (2)  |  Say (989)  |  Serious (98)  |  Set (400)  |  Show (353)  |  Specialization (24)  |  Specific (98)  |  Successful (134)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Tautological (2)  |  Type (171)  |  Unwarranted (2)  |  Variety (138)  |  Will (2350)

Just the Human Genome Project alone is the Full Employment Act for bioethicists.
Quoted in Michael Schrage, 'Increasing Medical Dilemmas Mean Job Security for Budding Bioethicists', San Jose Mercury News (13 Oct 1992), 3D. In Donna Jeanne Haraway and Lynn M. Randolph, [email protected] (1997), 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Alone (324)  |  Bioethics (12)  |  Employment (34)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Human Genome Project (6)  |  Project (77)

Mapping the human genome has been compared with putting a man on the moon, but I believe it is more than that. This is the outstanding achievement not only of our lifetime, but in terms of human history. A few months ago I compared the project to the invention of the wheel. On reflection, it is more than that. I can well imagine technology making the wheel obsolete. But this code is the essence of mankind, and as long as humans exists, this code is going to be important and will be used.
Quoted in the press release 'The first draft of the Book of Humankind has been read', 26 Jun 2000. On the Sanger Institute web site at www.sanger.ac.uk/HGP/draft2000/mainrelease.shtml
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Code (31)  |  Essence (85)  |  Exist (458)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Invention (400)  |  Long (778)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Month (91)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Obsolete (15)  |  Outstanding (16)  |  Project (77)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Technology (281)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Will (2350)

Only time and money stand between us and knowing the composition of every gene in the human genome.
(1986).
Science quotes on:  |  Composition (86)  |  Gene (105)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Money (178)  |  Stand (284)  |  Time (1911)

The microbial global brain—gifted with long-range transport, data trading, genetic variants … and the ability to reinvent genomes—began its operations some 91 trillion bacterial generations before the birth of the Internet. Ancient bacteria, if they functioned like those today, had mastered the art of worldwide information exchange. … The earliest microorganisms would have used planet-sweeping currents of wind and water to carry the scraps of genetic code…
In 'Creative Nets in the Precambrian Era', Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century (2000), 18-19.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Art (680)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Begin (275)  |  Birth (154)  |  Brain (281)  |  Carry (130)  |  Code (31)  |  Current (122)  |  Data (162)  |  Early (196)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Function (235)  |  Generation (256)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Gift (105)  |  Gifted (25)  |  Global (39)  |  Information (173)  |  Internet (24)  |  Long (778)  |  Master (182)  |  Microbe (30)  |  Microorganism (29)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Planet (402)  |  Range (104)  |  Scrap (3)  |  Today (321)  |  Trade (34)  |  Transport (31)  |  Trillion (4)  |  Variant (9)  |  Water (503)  |  Wind (141)  |  Worldwide (19)

These results demonstrate that there is a new polymerase inside the virions of RNA tumour viruses. It is not present in supernatents of normal cells but is present in virions of avian sarcoma and leukemia RNA tumour viruses. The polymerase seems to catalyse the incorporation of deoxyrinonucleotide triphosphates into DNA from an RNA template. Work is being performed to characterize further the reaction and the product. If the present results and Baltimore's results with Rauscher leukemia virus are upheld, they will constitute strong evidence that the DNA proviruses have a DNA genome when they are in virions. This result would have strong implications for theories of viral carcinogenesis and, possibly, for theories of information transfer in other biological systems. [Co-author with American virologist Satoshi Mizutani]
'RNA-dependent DNA Polymerase in Virions of Rous Sarcoma Virus', Nature (1970), 226, 1213.
Science quotes on:  |  Author (175)  |  David Baltimore (2)  |  Being (1276)  |  Biological (137)  |  Carcinogenesis (2)  |  Catalysis (7)  |  Cell (146)  |  Characterization (8)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  DNA (81)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Implication (25)  |  Incorporation (5)  |  Information (173)  |  Leukemia (4)  |  New (1273)  |  Normal (29)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perform (123)  |  Performance (51)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Present (630)  |  Product (166)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Result (700)  |  RNA (5)  |  Strong (182)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Tumour (2)  |  Virus (32)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

President Clinton at podium + Quote “We are here to celebrate…entire human genome…most wondrous map ever produced by human kind”
President Clinton at the Human Genome Announcement at the White House (20 Jun 2000), with Francis S. Collins (left) and Craig Ventner. (source)
We are here to celebrate the completion of the first survey of the entire human genome. Without a doubt, this is the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by human kind.
From White House Announcement of the Completion of the First Survey of the Entire Human Genome Project, broadcast on the day of the publication of the first draft of the human genome. Quoted in transcript on the National Archives, Clinton White House web site, 'Text of Remarks on the Completion of the First Survey of the Entire Human Genome Project' (26 Jun 2000).
Science quotes on:  |  Celebrate (21)  |  Completion (23)  |  Doubt (314)  |  First (1302)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Human Genome Project (6)  |  Kind (564)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Map (50)  |  Most (1728)  |  Produced (187)  |  Survey (36)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wondrous (22)

We share half our genes with the banana. [After the announcement Jun 2000 that a working draft of the genetic sequence of humans had been completed by the Human Genome Project.]
Quoted in Andy Coglan and Nell Boyce, 'The End of the Beginning: The first draft of the human genome signals a new era for humanity', New Scientist (1 Jul 2000), 167 5.
Science quotes on:  |  2000 (15)  |  Announcement (15)  |  Banana (4)  |  Completed (30)  |  Gene (105)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Genome (13)  |  Human Genome Project (6)  |  Project (77)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Share (82)


Carl Sagan Thumbnail In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | 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 |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | 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 |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.