Ancestry & Evolution
The desire to understand our origins is primal. By examining our DNA over successive generations through the evolutionary process of inherited characteristics of human and animal populations–as well as from those species from which humans share a common ancestry–we can decipher our individual and collective past and develop medical innovations for the future.
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Environmental influence on epigenetics
It is called epigenetics. This is where at the microscopic level the genes should function normal but something in the ...

Wolf found in New Brunswick for first time in 150 years, testing confirms
Genetic testing has confirmed that an animal fatally shot last month by a hunter in northern New Brunswick was a ...
Going hostile with $2.6 billion Human Genome offer
GlaxoSmithKline will take its $2.6 billion bid for long-time partner Human Genome Sciences direct to shareholders this week, after its ...
Tilghman reflects on DNA study
A solution to the ethical dilemma of using human embryonic stem cells to treat human diseases could be staring us ...

Fighting breed-related diseases
The refinement of purebred dogs over the past four or five centuries has created interesting versions of Canis familiaris, such ...

Genetics of homosexuality: “Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t publish”?
Critics of homosexuals portray it as a “deviant” lifestyle choice and a violation of God’s will. Some religious conservatives argue ...

Genes & obesity
The latest Genomics & Health Impact Update has a primer on genetic links to obesity—a must read. It also links ...

Risk and DNA: In search of the money gene
What makes someone want to start a business? That was what the young economist Philipp Koellinger was trying to figure ...
Geneticist develops tool to identify genes important in disease, tailoring individual treatment
Though the human genome has been sequenced, scientists are still trying to figure out how the accomplishment can help people, ...
University study finds mixed reception of genetic testing
Researchers at Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine have found that patients see both benefits and risks from direct-to-consumer ...
Does patenting genes stifle innovation and health care access?
Three years in the making, the now highly publicized American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against Myriad Genetics is still hanging ...

What is life? Follow the bits
The debate over the definition of life is getting messier and messier, but one of the pioneers on the biochemical ...
Genetic study traces horse domestication to Russia
A genetic study of horses across Eastern Europe and Central Asia has traced the domestication of one of man's most ...
Enzyme corrects more than one million faults in DNA replication
Scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) at the University of Edinburgh have ...
Test-tube’ babies have more birth defects?
Test-tube babies have higher rates of birth defects, and doctors have long wondered: Is it because of certain fertility treatments ...

Minnesotans weigh pros and cons of breakthrough genetic testing technology
Lynn is a Minneapolis artist, inspired by international science. “I have a real curiosity,” she says, as a string of ...

Will Gattaca come true?
Noninvasive, early fetal tests for sex, paternity and chromosomal conditions will change pregnancy dramatically- and raise tricky ethical questions.A scientist ...
Can blood test predict breast cancer risk?
A blood test that spots changes in a specific gene could reveal a woman's risk for breast cancer years before ...
Newborns with missing spleen – Genetic link identified
A study published online in the May 3 edition of Developmental Cell reveals that researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical ...
Canadian geneticist discovers secret behind the blond-haired Solomon Islanders
The discovery of a gene mutation that gives some Soloman Islanders platinum blond hair has important implications for medicine and ...

Back from the dead: Couple who paid $155,000 to CLONE their dog
One couple couldn't bare to live without their beloved yellow Labrador, so when he died of cancer they put a ...

Jews are an ancient Middle Eastern ‘tribe’, genes reveal
In his new book, “Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People,” Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist and professor at ...