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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One tiny DNA mutation may have paved path for humans to evolve big brains
Humans may in part owe their big brains to a DNA "typo" in their genetic code, research suggests. ... [In ...
Epigenetics Around the Web: Watch how epigenetic changes cause cancer
Epigenetics Around the Web is a weekly roundup of the latest studies and news in the field of epigenetics presented ...
Mystery of meteors: Building blocks of life remain elusive
Three of the five nucleobases --- molecular subcomponents of information-bearing nucleotides which make up our genetic code --- likely came ...
Were Neanderthals smarter than we originally thought?
Neanderthals modified their survival strategies even without external influences like environmental or climate changes, according to an analysis using carbonate ...
Epigenetics Around the Web: Should theory of evolution expand to include epigenetics?
Epigenetics around the web is a weekly roundup of the latest studies and news in the field of epigenetics. This ...
Non-African humans may carry harmful Neanderthal genes that lower fitness
The Neanderthal genome included harmful mutations that made the hominids around 40% less reproductively fit than modern humans, according to ...
Race doesn’t exist: What this claim really means in regards to science
No biologist denies that there are real genetic differences among human groups...We all agree that race exists, we just differ ...
AncestryDNA vs 23andMe: Which genetic test should you take?
Genetic testing companies have proprietary sets of data and different ways they analyze the data, which can also play a ...
Bioerrorism: US military initiates Safe Genes program in case gene drives run amok
Over the next four years a new program in the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to cultivate...a ...
Personal DNA tests outpacing appropriate regulations
As little as a decade ago, the concept of having your DNA (your genome) sequenced as a matter of routine ...
‘Collaborative morality’ in early humans may explain autism’s long evolutionary history
A subtle change occurred in our evolutionary history 100,000 years ago which allowed people who thought and behaved differently - ...
Ronda Rousey vs. Muhammad Ali: Does sex before athletic events impact performance?
Does sex the night before help or hurt athletic performance? Everyone from Plato to Joe Namath has weighed in on ...
Europeans left disastrous DNA mark on indigenous Americans
Of the many devastations Europeans wreaked upon the indigenous people of the “New World,” disease left perhaps the worst impact...But ...
23andMe has found hundreds of genetic linked-traits using their customers’ DNA
Since launching in 2006, 23andMe has collected and analyzed DNA samples from 1.2-million customers, with the majority allowing their data ...
How IQ, bones and metabolism are genetically linked
A gene that regulates bone growth and muscle metabolism in mammals may take on an additional role as a promoter ...
Did our human ancestors wipe out the ‘human hobbits’?
Although we know so little about Denisovans, we know a lot about a second human species alive at the same ...
All blue-eyed people are related
New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen ...
DNA changes linked to farming revolution spurred bonding of dogs with humans
Our canine companions developed the ability to digest starchy foods during the farming revolution thousands of years ago, according to ...
What human evolution says about using CRISPR to edit diseases out of patient’s genome
Using CRISPR, scientists may soon be able to cure sickle cell disease by correcting the causative gene from blood cells ...
How did our ancestors colonize remote South Pacific islands?
Some 3,400 years ago,...people on the Solomon Islands left their white sandy shores for the cerulean seas of the South ...
Why Neanderthals did not survive side-by-side with humans
The Neanderthals, who once colonized Europe and Asia, became extinct about 30,000 years ago – but not before interbreeding with ...
How gene drives work to permanently establish inheritable traits
In recent history, techniques such as PCR, large scale DNA sequencing and CRISPR-Cas9 fall into this category. More commonly than designing techniques from ...
Are flu shots effective? Your genetics determine how the immune system responds
Not all people are the same in terms of how well a vaccine works. The research also suggests a tactic ...
Using genetics to establish ethnicity often ignores social context
Researchers often seek to gather empirical data to make objective conclusions about their research. But pure scientific objectivity may actually ...
Ebola evolved during latest outbreak to become deadlier to humans
What made the recent Ebola outbreak in west Africa so virulent? The virus that seeped across borders and killed more ...
Humans would not exist if viruses hadn’t intervened in our evolution
Viruses are parasites that cause a number of devastating diseases: AIDS, cervical cancer, the flu. They have led to a ...
Human hibernation: How it can change the world of medicine
Many films and shows feature human hibernation as a means to help astronauts travel deep into space. While this could ...
