Personalized Medicine
H1N1 flu controversially engineered to escape immune system
A controversial scientist who carried out provocative research on making influenza viruses more infectious has completed his most dangerous experiment ...
Gene modification of adult cells offers more hope for Type 1 diabetes than stem cells
By deleting a single gene in human gut endocrine progenitor and serotonin-producing cells, researchers reported that they were able convert ...
Developmental brain gene protects against Alzheimer’s disease
More than five million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's disease. Scientists at Harvard Medical School and their colleagues have ...
Our primate ancestors enjoyed a nip, too
When we think about the origins of agriculture and crop domestication, alcohol isn’t necessarily the first thing that comes to ...
Rare genetic disorder that ended college star’s pro hoops career hopes shines light on Marfan syndrome
Four days before Baylor University basketball star Isaiah Austin hoped to be drafted into the NBA, his dreams of playing ...
Employees can protect themselves against workplace genetic discrimination
As genetic testing and genetic information become increasingly available, it is critical that employers have a full understanding of current ...
Anti-GMO advocates try to scare diabetics off life-saving genetically engineered drug treatment
Usually food-obsessed anti-GMO advocates have turned their sights toward one of modern technology’s must prized successes: genetically engineered synthetic human ...
Woman seeks to ban surrogacy
Jennifer Lahl is on a crusade to outlaw surrogacy, the process by which women lend their wombs to would-be mothers ...
Payout deadline approaches for North Carolina forced sterilization victims
In 1948, as Naomi Schenck was rushed into a North Carolina operating room because she was having a miscarriage, the ...
Faced with a sick brother, reporter wonders whether to get DNA tested
In the fall of 2010, as my brother was dying of colon cancer, I learned a terrifying secret. He also ...
Including vasectomies in court sentencing new eugenics
Put this in the "can they even do that?" files. Jesse Lee Herald of Edinburg, Virginia, received an unusual sentence ...
Shaking up science with transgenerational epigenetics and blurred species boundaries
A "top five ideas shaking up science" list from The Guardian and author Michael Brooks hits on two of the ...
Picture of risk: One family’s story of the threat of genetic disease
When a fetus may have a genetic condition, parents face a great deal of uncertainty when evaluating risk for their ...
T-cells trained to fight viruses offer hope for bone marrow transplant patients
A team at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas has devised a much more efficient method for 'training' killer ...
Exercise, stress speeds brain’s ability to repair iteself
Running helps mice to recover from a type of blindness caused by sensory deprivation early in life, researchers report. The ...
Gamete freezing offers promise of prolonging fertility but is far from perfect
I told my therapist that I was considering freezing my eggs, and she said she thought it was a good ...
Genesis and ethics of embryo’s conceived with help of a third parent
In August 1996, at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., a 39-year-old mechanical engineer from Pittsburgh named Maureen Ott ...
Claim Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of pagan Khazars who converted in Middle Ages confirmed as myth
The claim that today’s Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars who converted in the Middle Ages is a myth, according ...
Reverse reefer madness? Schizophrenia genes predict heavy pot use
Does marijuana smoking cause psychosis? Or could psychosis drive pot smoking? If you believe the panned and parodied 1936 film ...
Fetal genome sequencing must strike balance of too much information
Once you go beyond looking for specific genetic mutations—such as those that cause Down syndrome or cystic fibrosis—and begin exploring ...
Nature vs. nurture affects how we age
What makes us age biologically? We have always been intrigued by this question. Yet, it remains a fundamental research challenge ...
What is ‘precision medicine’?
The future of precision medicine means every patient will have treatments and prevention tailored to his or her genes and ...
Genetics likely determine who benefits from vitamins in the developed world
In 1911, Polish biochemist Casimir Funk discovered what was behind a then-mysterious neurological condition known as beriberi, common in regions ...
Brain cancer may have rogue stem cell origin, option for treatment
Glioblastoma and other related malignant glioma tumors including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) are some of the most devastating of ...
Genetic evidence points toward prosperity to explain dramatic expansion of Ashkenazi Jewry
Many people looking at Jewish population history have boggled at the idea of a small group expanding to a few ...
Stem cells responsible for fat in bone marrow and consequent disease
Our bones are not stagnant, rock-like things. They change. Marrow—the tissue inside bones—is full of various kinds of cells. And ...
Wade’s genetics of race overestimates evolution’s impact on human culture
In his latest book, Nicholas Wade, a longtime science journalist, argues that evolution by natural selection created human races with ...