Altering DNA to change gender?

[Julie]

I was reading through a Newsweek that was focused on medical advancements in recent years when I was reminded of an article I read around the time of the last Olympics that covered 'super athletes'. The article talked of a new method of what I'll call 'gene altering' whereas an athlete is injected with a cell altering substance, not steroids, that actually becomes part of the body and is undetectable. This changes the athlete's body in such a way he/she is faster, stronger, quicker, in effect, a super athlete. The article said this procedure was in the works and being used as we speak and we could see super athletes by the next Olympics.

So that got me to wonder, if we can create a substance that actually can create such dramatic change like this, is there a possibility that a substance could be created that would alter DNA? Could we change a man into a woman, or vise-versa, after puberty?Will we see the time when medical science unlocks the code that stops bone growth and allows for the skeletal structure to reform a male physique into female?

It's pretty widely known that soft tissue is changeable past puberty but to alter bone structure? To internally stop beard growth? To internally change one's voice?

I doubt I'll see it, but then again, I remember hearing countless many times it will take centuries to map the human genome.....

[Tristen Cox]

Here's something along these lines from further down the page:
http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7221

I spoke with a member about some interesting possibilities, such as making bones smaller without surgery by perhaps dissolving some of their mass(?) not that I think that would work. Even science fiction wise - softening the bones to reshape them :confused: I just can't see myself ever going through FFS and having plastic or metal used in my skull. And as far as hands and feet, I think that would be impossible without transplants of some kind. DNA is the creative tool and would be a great idea at an early age but as an adult it could have serious side effects.

I'm all for mind transplants or rather 'memory' which I think is not only something that can be done without surgery(this is for those who are older and can not go through DNA changes), but shouldn't be any more difficult than cracking DNA code. It's still down to chemicals and elements combined with electronic signals. Further reseach may prove me right but this is again far off in the future and there would have to be two willing subjects that match chemically to make that work.

For now if they can offer some kind of help by way of DNA changes early in life that's the way to go until there are other options. I do wonder sometimes though, are we playing mad scientists to create the perfect race of humans, or correct God's work? Yeah I know post it in the religious section Tristen:D

Well I'm stuck being me they way I am so there's no point in fighting myself, this is what I was given to work with and here I stay. No reason why we can't try to help others though if there is any way possible to do so. Gawd I do go on don't I. This just brought up lots of ideas that I've been thinking about.

[Julie]

Some time ago one of the weekly news magazines did a front page feature of living forever. The articles stated science has found the aging gene (in mice?) and it was only a matter of time before it could be applied to humans. Of course, the governments across the world would never allow this to get out if it were ever perfected. Think of the impact it would have if we never died! In ten years time we'd all be at each other's throats trying to get some solitude!

But in finding this aging gene the article took it several steps further and even suggested reversing aging. What impact that would have on the hard masses of the body is only speculative. But your skin would become younder looking and more supple, organs would regenerate to like new, other soft tissues would change too.

The big question is if reversing aging were possible would we reverse the growth process too? Would bones return to a growth period and make it possible to alter their shape through HRT?

Okay, I'll shut up. Tristen, I think you and I must have come from the same mould. I could go on and on about this stuff until everyone in the room is asleep from boredom. :shh: Hey! Wake up! I'm talking!

[Rachel Ann]

DNA modification will only change the rate of growth, not reverse it.

[Tristen Cox]

Hehe... well I would still be up and listening. Somehow I think Rachel's right though. You may be able to slow or even stop the aging process. Reversing age sounds even weirder(likely not going to work). I mean if bones etc.. lose mass and become smaller, where does the mass go? How would that effect the body? Hmmm *ponders*, I would rather slowing aging to lifespans of about 200 years which I believe would be plenty. I mean even if we could be the women that we feel we should have been from birth, would you want to be immortal and live forever? That would get boring watching humans make the same mistakes and seeing the same cycles of events repeat themselves throughout history.

Pretty deep huh:D

[Deborah757]

Sometimes its amazing how much we think alike. For years I have had this DNA altering wish. In my mind, although I knew it was impossible, I saw it in a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" way. Unfortunately, as you all have pointed out, the scientific realities get in the way.

[Julie]

In that article on aging I pointed out they created a scenario of a couple who took the stop aging shot at the age of 30. Then they told of how the couple went through several occupations as they tired of the previous one. Then around the age of 400 the couple just got tired of living and took the 'final shot' and passed away. It was pretty interesting. They went into great detail on how this hypothetical couple would have lived their lives.

Now I know how vampires feel! :lol:

As far as where would the mass go? You'd just expel it. As you lose bone density as you age, what happens to that?

Maybe we need a science fiction/dreamers section! :rolleyes: