![]() | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(February 2024) |
Michael Andregg | |
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Born | Michael Murphy Andregg 1951 |
Alma mater | University of California, Davis |
Occupation(s) | Educator, peace activist, author, documentarian |
Known for | Studies of the causes of war, human demographics, Peace and Conflict Studies |
Michael Murphy Andregg (born 1951) is an American biologist, educator, researcher, and author known for his study of the causes of war, global problems related to war, sustainable development, intelligence ethics and his peace activism. He founded and directed for 30 years a non-profit organization called Ground Zero Minnesota dedicated to "top-quality, non-partisan education for informed democracy and human survival." Andregg has published numerous articles, study guides, documentaries and papers on biology, genetics, technology and contemporary social problems related to armed conflict. He has produced over 50 educational videos on wide-ranging subjects and his national award-winning book, On the Causes of War, was released in November 1997.
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Andregg earned a Ph.D. in behavior genetics (1977) from the University of California, Davis after completing a triple-major B.S. in genetics, zoology and physical anthropology (1973). He studied under Theodosius Dobzhansky a prominent geneticist, evolutionary biologist and National Medal of Science recipient. During his university career, Andregg conducted field research on the behaviors of Barbary Apes (Macaca sylvanus) in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and co-authored several articles with his mentor Dobzhansky, including "Distribution Among the Chromosomes of Drosophila pseudoobscura of the Genes Governing the Response to Light". [1] and "Ecological Variables Affecting the Dispersal Behavior of Drosophila pseudoobscura and its Relatives." [2] After completing two years of postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota, he came to believe that war was a much greater public health hazard than rare diseases or abstract theories, and began to dedicate his life to the study of contemporary social problems, especially causes of war and sustainable development.
Andregg's study of global armed conflict and genocide resulted in his book, On the Causes of War, which won the International PeaceWriting Award in 1999, was reprinted twice, republished in Canada and translated into Italian. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses for 35 years as an adjunct at the University of Minnesota, with brief stints at Macalester and Gustavus Adolphus Colleges. He joined the Justice and Peace Studies faculty at the University of St. Thomas in 1993 and taught in the Aquinas Scholars program there until 2017. Andregg has lectured four times in South Korea and Japan on sustainable development, WMD and causes of wars, five times at Romania’s National Intelligence Academy, and at many other European conferences on intelligence reform, and human survival issues. He still lectures occasionally at American war and intelligence colleges, like the National Intelligence University, Army Command and General Staff College, and the Naval Postgraduate School.
In 1982, Andregg founded an educational, non-profit organization called Ground Zero Minnesota, which produced over 50 public television programs and sponsored about 5,000 educational programs in schools, churches, and civic groups on issues of peace and justice, many on the status and implications of weapons of mass destruction. [3]
Andregg began studying the craft of intelligence-gathering, analysis, espionage and action focusing on intelligence reform. He has arranged and moderated over twenty panels for intelligence-related conferences around the world, and presented at dozens more. He wrote a chapter on intelligence ethics for a textbook on intelligence studies, [4] a Handbook on Intelligence Ethics, and a similar chapter for The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence [5] in 2009.
His 2007 edited reader on intelligence ethics includes essays from 14 professionals from six countries. In 2008, Andregg released a documentary, Rethinking 9/11: Why Truth and Reconciliation are Better Strategies Than Global War, [6] which examines certain unanswered questions of who was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks and calls for a full, impartial examination of the evidence.
Andregg is a frequent public speaker, lecturer, media commentator [7] and mediator who has briefed Minnesota police, fire and public health officials on the effects of weapons of mass destruction.
In 2008, he acted as a liaison between peace activists and the local police department during the Republican National Convention, held in Saint Paul, Minnesota. [8]
Drosophila is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit. They should not be confused with the Tephritidae, a related family, which are also called fruit flies ; tephritids feed primarily on unripe or ripe fruit, with many species being regarded as destructive agricultural pests, especially the Mediterranean fruit fly.
Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky was an American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the modern synthesis and also popular for his support and promotion of theistic evolution as a practicing Christian. Born in the Russian Empire, Dobzhansky emigrated to the United States in 1927, aged 27.
Hermann Joseph Muller was an American geneticist who was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, "for the discovery that mutations can be induced by X-rays". Muller warned of long-term dangers of radioactive fallout from nuclear war and nuclear testing, which resulted in greater public scrutiny of these practices.
An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of knowledge, taught and researched as part of higher education. A scholar's discipline is commonly defined by the university faculties and learned societies to which they belong and the academic journals in which they publish research.
Allopatric speciation – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from each other to an extent that prevents or interferes with gene flow.
Richard Charles Lewontin was an American evolutionary biologist, mathematician, geneticist, and social commentator. A leader in developing the mathematical basis of population genetics and evolutionary theory, he applied techniques from molecular biology, such as gel electrophoresis, to questions of genetic variation and evolution.
Genetics and the Origin of Species is a 1937 book by the Ukrainian-American evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky. It is regarded as one of the most important works of modern synthesis and was one of the earliest. The book popularized the work of population genetics to other biologists and influenced their appreciation for the genetic basis of evolution. In his book, Dobzhansky applied the theoretical work of Sewall Wright (1889–1988) to the study of natural populations, allowing him to address evolutionary problems in a novel way during his time. Dobzhansky implements theories of mutation, natural selection, and speciation throughout his book to explain the habits of populations and the resulting effects on their genetic behavior. The book explains evolution in depth as a process over time that accounts for the diversity of all life on Earth. The study of evolution was present, but greatly neglected at the time. Dobzhansky illustrates that evolution regarding the origin and nature of species during this time in history was deemed mysterious, but had expanding potential for progress to be made in its field.
Seymour Benzer was an American physicist, molecular biologist and behavioral geneticist. His career began during the molecular biology revolution of the 1950s, and he eventually rose to prominence in the fields of molecular and behavioral genetics. He led a productive genetics research lab both at Purdue University and as the James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience, emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology.
Bernard M. Oliver, also known as Barney Oliver, was a scientist who made contributions in many fields, including radar, television, and computers. He was the founder and director of Hewlett-Packard (HP) laboratories until his retirement in 1981. He is also a recognized pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Oliver was president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1965. In 1986, Oliver was a National Medal of Science recipient for Engineering Science and on February 11, 2004 it was announced that Oliver had been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Alfred Henry Sturtevant was an American geneticist. Sturtevant constructed the first genetic map of a chromosome in 1911. Throughout his career he worked on the organism Drosophila melanogaster with Thomas Hunt Morgan. By watching the development of flies in which the earliest cell division produced two different genomes, he measured the embryonic distance between organs in a unit which is called the sturt in his honor. On February 13, 1968, Sturtevant received the 1967 National Medal of Science from President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The mechanisms of reproductive isolation are a collection of evolutionary mechanisms, behaviors and physiological processes critical for speciation. They prevent members of different species from producing offspring, or ensure that any offspring are sterile. These barriers maintain the integrity of a species by reducing gene flow between related species.
The concept of a biological species as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding to produce viable offspring dates back to at least the 18th century, although it is often associated today with Ernst Mayr. Species of the fruit-fly Drosophila are one of the most commonly used organisms in evolutionary research, and have been used to test many theories related to the evolution of species. The genus Drosophila comprises numerous species that have varying degrees of premating and postmating isolation between them. These species are useful for testing hypotheses of the reproductive mechanisms underlying speciation.
The history of molecular evolution starts in the early 20th century with "comparative biochemistry", but the field of molecular evolution came into its own in the 1960s and 1970s, following the rise of molecular biology. The advent of protein sequencing allowed molecular biologists to create phylogenies based on sequence comparison, and to use the differences between homologous sequences as a molecular clock to estimate the time since the last common ancestor. In the late 1960s, the neutral theory of molecular evolution provided a theoretical basis for the molecular clock, though both the clock and the neutral theory were controversial, since most evolutionary biologists held strongly to panselectionism, with natural selection as the only important cause of evolutionary change. After the 1970s, nucleic acid sequencing allowed molecular evolution to reach beyond proteins to highly conserved ribosomal RNA sequences, the foundation of a reconceptualization of the early history of life.
Leslie Clarence Dunn was a developmental geneticist at Columbia University. His early work with the mouse T-locus and established ideas of gene interaction, fertility factors, and allelic distribution. Later work with other model organisms continued to contribute to developmental genetics. Dunn was also an activist, helping fellow scientists seek asylum during World War II, and a critic of eugenics movements.
Aaron Halfaker is a principal applied scientist at Microsoft Research. He previously served as a research scientist at the Wikimedia Foundation until 2020.
Drosophila subobscura is a species of fruit fly in the family Drosophilidae. Originally found around the Mediterranean, it has spread to most of Europe and the Near East. It has been introduced into the west coasts of Canada, the United States, and Chile. Its closest relative is Drosophila madeirensis, found in the Madeira Islands, followed by D. guanche, found in the Canary Islands. These three species form the D. subobscura species subgroup. When they mate, males and females perform an elaborate courtship dance, in which the female can either turn away to end the mating ritual, or stick out her proboscis in response to the male's, allowing copulation to proceed. D. subobscura has been regarded as a model organism for its use in evolutionary-biological studies.
Jerome Edwin Hirsch was an American psychologist known for his pioneering work in behavior genetics, and for his advocacy for social justice. He has been described as "the pioneer who brought quantitative genetic analysis to the study of behavior."
Laboratory experiments of speciation have been conducted for all four modes of speciation: allopatric, peripatric, parapatric, and sympatric; and various other processes involving speciation: hybridization, reinforcement, founder effects, among others. Most of the experiments have been done on flies, in particular Drosophila fruit flies. However, more recent studies have tested yeasts, fungi, and even viruses.
Charles E. Bowers was an American civil engineer, researcher, and educator. He was awarded the Collingwood Prize in 1950 for his study of the Panama Canal.
Elizabeth Wagner Reed was an American geneticist and one of the first scientists to work on Drosophila speciation. She taught women's studies courses and had a particular interest in research aimed at recovering the history of nineteenth-century women scientists. Born in the Philippines to a Northern Irish nurse and an American civil servant, she grew up in Carroll, Ohio. After earning bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees from Ohio State University, she became a teacher with an interest in genetics. In the 1940s, she worked with her husband on plant genetics at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. After he was killed in action during World War II, she returned to Ohio and conducted studies on penicillin at the Ohio State Research Foundation.