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The many revolutions of the 20th century
Published in Nadia Maria Filippini, Clelia Boscolo, Pregnancy, Delivery, Childbirth, 2020
Even the specular representation of death has been unhinged. The freezing of sperm and eggs seems to ensure a kind of biological immortality to the individual: the aspiration to individual survival is no longer linked only to real filiation (as Plato observed in his Symposium: see Chapter 1.5), but already realised in nuce in the “possible” filiation, in the freezing of seed/egg that contains the genetic heritage of the individual. It allows us to preserve in a kind of timeless Limbo what potentially could develop as an individual in the future. Not only that, but it also allows for the combination of two terms that were absolutely irreconcilable in the past: filiation and death. As some news stories have sensationally shown, children can be born from a long-dead father or mother, if their semen/egg has been frozen. The utopia imagined by Dr Paolo Mantegazza in the 19th century, of a fallen soldier who fertilised his wife even after death (“a husband who died on the battlefield might also be able to fertilise his wife even as a corpse”, cited by Betta 2012: 61), becomes a reality, with a transfer from the imaginary figure of the hero to that of every common mortal.
The Indispensable Soma Hypothesis in Aging
Published in Shamim I. Ahmad, Aging: Exploring a Complex Phenomenon, 2017
piRNAs (PIWI-Interacting RNAs) are noncoding RNAs but distinct from microRNAs in some characteristics. They are involved in gene silencing of transposons among others, so they protect the germline. These are also expressed in tumor cells and in certain somatic cells which exhibit biological immortality, such as those in hydra. It is well known that genomic instability in somatic cells increases with age. Evidence indicates that the disintegration of somatic genomes (progressive chromatin decondensation for instance) is accompanied by the mobilization of transposable elements (TEs) which can be mutagenic. However, since TEs are silenced in the germline, there is less risk of adverse mutations [105].
Hegemony and Heteronormativity: Homonormative Discourses of LGBTQ Activists About Lesbian and Gay Parenting
Published in Journal of Homosexuality, 2019
Diego Lasio, Francesco Serri, Isabella Ibba, João Manuel De Oliveira
Sandro uncovered the human illusion of achieving a vicarious biological immortality through genetic descendants (Overall, 2014) but came up against the very idea of procreation as the fundament of the human: In Giuseppe’s view, the supremacy given to biological reproduction is natural and obvious, since it guarantees the sake of the species.