Personalized Medicine
Human ‘angry face’ knows no cultural divide, rooted in DNA
In the U.S., the thumbs-up is typically a gesture that everything’s just hunky-dory—but in the Middle East, it implies that ...
DNA-based stool test now available for colon cancers
Exact Sciences Corp. recently announced that Mayo Clinic will be the first health system to offer Cologuard®, the first and ...
UK Parliament begins discussion of “3-parent IVF”
The British government continues to move toward legalizing a form of inheritable genetic modification that would combine eggs or embryos ...
Phenol exposure during pregnancy may affect boy’s fetal growth
A research consortium has just published an epidemiological study indicating that exposure to certain phenols during pregnancy, especially parabens and ...
Spanish longevity genes linked to cholesterol metabolism
Hold the butter! The genetic secrets of centenarians are starting to be unravelled – and they hint that low cholesterol ...
After transplant, nasal cartilage acts like a knee, even down to the genes
If you need a new knee, look no further than the end of your nose. It turns out that nasal ...
Tibetans’ genetic mutations help them survive at extreme altitude
When you hear the word “mutation,” you may think of something destructive, or of Marvel’s X-Men. But some mutations—which are ...
Humans’ love for simple stories and status quo make opinions intractable in face of fact
Popular opinions about complex issues in science and technology are often held to even when facts and experts are presented ...
Cystic Fibrosis is a simple genetic puzzle, but finding a cure remains difficult
On the face of it, CF is a perfect candidate for gene therapy. It’s literally a textbook genetic disease – ...
Humans colonize their homes with microbes, not the other way around
Microbes are everywhere. They live on and inside us, and cover most things we come into contact with, including our ...
NIH genomics researchers to share data and clarify informed consent
Scientists who work on genomics and are funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) must post their data ...
Chimps beat humans at some games: Are aggressive genetics at play?
We humans assume we are the smartest of all creations. In a world with over 8.7 million species, only we ...
Winning rape conviction, woman loses privacy and control over her DNA
As Maryland's highest court upheld a rape conviction based on DNA collected from the arm of a police station chair, a veteran ...
Genetic causes of glaucoma identified
Researchers have discovered six specific genetic variations that may be linked to glaucoma. Findings published in the journal Nature Genetics ...
Parasite practices genetic mind control to spread infection
Toxoplasma gondii, the parasitic infection that may infect almost half the worlds human population uses some special trick to control ...
Could genetic testing make having a disabled child immoral?
The summer's "ice bucket challenge" has brought an extraordinary amount of attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease ...
Nap and coffee combo clears neurotransmitters so buzz more effective
It might sound crazy: conventional wisdom is that caffeine interferes with sleep. But if you caffeinate immediately before napping and sleep for ...
Richard Dawkins’ moral policing aside, new era of fetal diagnostics underway
What would you do if you were pregnant with a fetus affected by a severe disorder? Abortion is often the ...
British girl explains life as child of three-parent IVF
Alana Saarinen loves playing golf and the piano, listening to music and hanging out with friends. In those respects, she's ...
Another report of parent refusing child with genetic problem born by surrogate
A British surrogate mother of twins has said the intended mother rejected one of the babies because she was born ...
When the media hypes epigenetics, mothers take the blame
There's a lot of talk about epigenetics in the news, but scientists still don't know what it all means. A ...
Total Recall: Are we nearing the era, for better and worse, of reprogramming memories?
Scientists are edging closer to a time when we can enhance good memories and banish paralyzing ones. While that offers ...
California stem cell industry reviving
Almost three years after a Bay Area company shut down the world's first clinical trial of a therapy using embryonic ...
Your microbiome isn’t just in you: It’s all around you
As I type these words at my desk, I’m seeding my house with bacteria. I touch the desk, the light ...
Brain, behavior and genetics
The link between our genetics and how we behave is the topic of much speculation, some if it highly controversial ...
HIV drug trials disproportionately include white patients, to detriment of African Americans
Many African-Americans may not be getting effective doses of the HIV drug maraviroc, a new study from Johns Hopkins suggests ...
Emotions connected to memories can be altered, at least in mice
By artificially activating circuits in the brain, scientists have turned negative memories into positive ones. They gave mice bad memories ...