The first human to have a public genome mapping of his DNA returns to La Jolla next Monday evening, Sept. 21.
Dr. James D. Watson, perhaps the most famous Nobel laureate in the world for his discovery in 1953 ” with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins ” of DNA’s double helix structure, has given the 6-billion chemical letter sequence of his own genetic blueprint to the National Institutes of Health database for all the world to see. Watson said the public posting should give a big boost to human health, especially when other public postings begin to accumulate and health experts draw comparisons.
Watson will join science fans, readers and the curious at 7 p.m. Monday evening, Sept. 24, at D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., to talk about his tips for a more successful life, making all girls pretty and curing stupidity through genetics, the future of genetic medicine and other topics to be found in his new book, “Avoid Boring People,” published by Alfred E. Knopf/Borzoi Books.
No doubt Watson is an expert on the subject of boredom, having sat through myriad award dinners for his many merits. But he’s a rarity in the world of science because of his monumental accomplishments, rule-breaking attitude and brash sense of humor.
Thanks to Watson’s lifelong work in genetics, many mysterious human conditions may finally be explained in a few short years, such our species’ penchant for risk-taking and belief in God as as well as diseases or conditions such as cancer, neurosis, lower intelligence, shyness and alcoholism. Watson said he hopes we’ll begin to recognize people’s limitations and stop placing unrealistic expectations upon our children.
There’s also no reason why all women can’t be pretty, the good doctor said, while also admitting that he is “very old-fashioned.”
“If you look at the origin of ‘pretty,’ pretty is symmetrical,” he said. “Symmetrical is generally healthy and nonthreatening.”
However, “people who have strange faces, they’re more often found to be psychopath than not,” Watson said. “So … ‘pretty’ just means nonthreatening … something that pleases. You know, there’s one novel after another about girls too ugly to get a husband. It’s not nice, but it’s maybe all they need.
“Men, on average, just want a healthy wife, but women want someone who can support the children. [Today, of course,] that’s changed somewhat, but I think that it will always be somewhat true, because women have this attachment to children and they need help.”
If this is a clever bid for Nobel groupies to show up at Watson’s lecture, he denies having any.
“No, I’ve virtually seen none,” he said. “That may have changed nowadays, but in the past, sadly no … somehow my personality has not attracted the groupies.”
Certainly the human species could stand to grow a bit smarter, and this is an area in which Watson is confident the human genome will have immense impact.
“Time will tell,” he said. “You know … we don’t seem to have produced anyone in a century equal to Beethoven, or Schubert or Bach. I think the selection for intelligence was probably greater in the past than it is now, because life maybe 200 years ago was a lot harder than it is today and that struggle is a component for intelligence.”
Watson may have his autobiography all done, but there’s still one chapter he’d dearly like to add.
“We haven’t stopped cancer yet ” that’s the big one,” he said. “Yeah, I think science desperately needs another Jonas Salk. We declared war on cancer about 37 years ago and had one victory in 15 years. You know, when they [first] talked about victory in 10 years I thought they were nuts, and they threw me off the National Cancer Advisory Board for it. I was hoping it would be 30 years, but it’s gonna be a 50-year war. I think we’ll win it in 50. Anyway, that’s my chief ambition for my 80s, is to stop cancer.”
Watson’s appearance at D.G. Wills Books is free. For information, call (858) 456-1800 or visit www.dgwillsbooks.com.
Earlier Sept. 24, the public is also invited to attend a public taping of The Science Network’s “Science Studio” featuring a discussion with Watson at the Salk Institute, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road. The taping will begin at 1 p.m.
Dr. Watson’s CV:
“¢ Nobel Prize winner for detecting DNA structure, 1962
“¢ First director, National Center for Human Genome Research, NIH
“¢ Chancellor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY
“¢ Member, National Academy of Sciences; The Royal Society
“¢ Recipient, Presidential Medal of Freedom