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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What gave rise to tool use among primates?
Primates use all kinds of tools in the wild to acquire food resources. For example, chimpanzees use stones to crack ...
Profile of a personal genetics company: PHENOMBio
Interest in personal genomics sites that provide insight into the link between your genes and disease proclivities is booming. But ...
Creativity more imitation than innovation
In today’s world, inventors are our heroes and our saviours – the geniuses who keep the world economy surging forward, ...
Cost benefits of cancer screenings get political in the UK
Cancer screening have helped save many of lives, but have shifted the demographics of who gets the disease. Should we ...
Kevin Folta takes on South Florida Science Centers’ promotion of anti-science GMO ‘nonsense’
Over the past few weeks, the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium of West Palm Beach has been eagerly promoting a Thursday, ...
EO Wilson, Richard Dawkins renew clash over evolution
The war of words between the biologists EO Wilson and Richard Dawkins has reignited after the Harvard professor described his ...
Newly discovered ancient human skeleton contains lost Neanderthal DNA
Another week, another ancient human genome. We just recently covered the oldest modern human genome yet described. Now, another paper ...
Why do we gain weight or remain slim? Genes, microbes and now genes for microbes
Gaining weight is partly the fault of genes. Gut microbes are involved in obesity too, although that's a complicated and ...
Evolutionary origins of genitalia unveiled
When the first animals scrambled out of the water to live on land, they needed limbs and lungs. And something ...
Rationalizing health risks difficult, especially when emotions in play
From Ebola to breast cancer screenings, people have a difficult time understanding where their health risks truly lie. Our emotional ...
Should you get a mastectomy when a BRCA mutation is detected?
Before I was scheduled for a double mastectomy at the age of 60, I knew I was infinitely blessed: The ...
Save blight stricken American Chestnut? Crowd funding launches for GMO rescue
Today we are starting something new to get the public engaged in biotechnology solutions to environmental problems through the American ...
Are Fluffy and Fido key to anti-aging research?
Dogs may join yeast and mice as candidates for large scale studies investigating drugs that may one day solve age-related ...
Fossil unveils new mammalian lineage
Four years ago, while searching for fish fossils on Madagascar, paleontologists came upon what proved to be a well-preserved cranium ...
Could genetics convert food crops to perennials, revolutionizing farming?
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. It’s a cycle nearly ...
Low oxygen on Earth delayed evolution of early animal life
Animals were slow to evolve on Earth. While the first life forms emerged about a billion and a half years ago, ...
Is increase in ADHD an artifact of our modern educational system?
One in ten American children will be treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD at some point in their ...
Computer model replicates complex networks behind evolution
You inhabit something of a miracle, in engineering terms. Your body consists of trillions of cells, woven together into something ...
What is a ‘healthy’ microbiome?
The microbiome is one of the hottest current topics in biology. According to various studies, our gut microbial community may ...
Should have asked Hamlet: Study finding Danish genes foster happiness needs some work
Why a study alleging Danes are happiest and French most grumpy because of their respective gene pool is not worth ...
Designer babies: You can screen for cystic fibrosis but intelligence is a ways off
Using a technique called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, it’s possible to screen embryos for disease and sex before they are implanted ...
Spontaneous mutations and the genetic mysteries of autism
At least 30% of all autism cases is caused by spontaneous, or de novo, mutations. Lends new weight to hypothesis ...
Genetic technologies offer long and short term views of Ebola dangers
High yield genetic sequencers, cell phones and paper-based diagnostics are all being employed to develop a cohesive picture of the ...
Stop the ‘flying syringe’: Landscape genetics track Asian tiger mosquitoes
The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is native to Southeast Asia, is an alarming vector for human disease like dengue, chikungunya and ...
Chimps’ feeding behavior reveals evolutionary history of intellectual development
Food reveals a lot about species' evolutionary past. Organisms are constantly adapting in response to what kind and how much ...
Can evolution can be explained by genes alone?
Charles Darwin conceived of evolution by natural selection without knowing that genes exist. Now mainstream evolutionary theory has come to ...
‘Hobbit species’ continues to provoke questions about course of human evolution
In 2003, researchers excavating a limestone cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores made an extraordinary discovery: the 18,000-year-old ...
