Health
Through the study and use of genetics, we can identify measures that could lead to the improvement of human health and wellness. These methods and procedures aim to prevent years of chronic disease and thousands of dollars in health care costs, and provide families and communities with knowledge of how to live healthier.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Genetics of height: It may be too complex for scientists to crack the code
[W]hen the human genome was sequenced, scientists like [Joel Hirschhorn, a geneticist at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Broad Institute] ...
Genetically modified humans? CRISPR edges us toward ‘revolutionizing life’
The [CRISPR] technique is significant because it gives genetic biologists a powerful tool for gene editing. More importantly, it's cheap ...
Autism risk higher for females with ‘male-like brains’
One feature of brain anatomy that is characteristic of males is associated with an increased risk of autism, according to ...
Stress reaction: Women more vulnerable to certain diseases, allergies because of immune cell differences
Michigan State University researchers are the first to uncover reasons why a specific type of immune cell acts very differently ...
‘Alphabet of life’ expanded by 2 synthetic letters, may help make organisms ‘Earth has never seen’
Until very recently, life on Earth was dictated by strings of just four letters: G, A, T, and C...Deciphering nature’s ...
Why high-risk breast cancer patients are foregoing genetic testing and counseling
Doctors often fail to recommend genetic testing for breast-cancer patients, even those who are at high risk for mutations linked ...
Generating tissue to repair knee cartilage and hearts more likely in wake of stem cell study
A new study from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, has found that induced pluripotent stem cells would be ...
Non-GMO? Organic? Natural? Do food ‘buzzwords’ help consumers make healthy choices?
Picture the cereal aisle (and marvel at the fact that there is an aisle just for cereal). Next, think of ...
Epigenetics Around the Web: Chemo affects sperm? Cancer causes. Younger looking skin?
Epigenetics Around the Web is a weekly roundup of studies and news in the field of epigenetics presented by GLP ...
Nigerian biotech expert says GMOs won’t replace conventional seeds, refutes common GMO myths
[Editor's note: The following is an interview with Rose Gidado, Country Coordinator of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in ...
New GMO book shifts debate from science to fears of ‘corporate control’ of food and farming
The Pew Research Center recently polled Americans on their concerns about genetically modified foods. Predictably, given the popular consternation around ...
China aggressively challenges US lead in precision medicine
The United States has long been the [genomic] industry’s undisputed leader,...but now China is emerging as America’s fiercest competitor.... ...
Sore shoulder, rotator cuff disease may be a genetic trait
Rotator cuff disease is a common disorder that affects 30 to 50 percent of people over the age of 50 ...
Multiple sclerosis, inflammatory diseases linked to 27 high-protein gene regions
A genome-wide study has identified DNA regions associated with higher levels of circulating cytokines, small proteins that play a role in ...
For people with congenital hearing loss, gene therapy successful in mice offers promise
An improved gene therapy vector restores hearing and balance in genetically deaf mice, according to Boston's Children's Hospital researchers...[T]he mice's ...
Women may be buffered from traumatic stress by high estrogen levels
Whether a woman’s estrogen level is high or low could determine if she may be susceptible to developing post-traumatic stress ...
Iowa farmer debunks 8 popular myths about GMOs
[Editor's note: Michelle Miller, known on social media as the Farm Babe, raises lamb and beef cattle, and grows almost ...
Producing ‘super foods’: Unlocking quinoa genome opens door to new breeding techniques
Scientists have successfully decoded the genome of quinoa, one of the world's most nutritious but underutilised crops. ... [P]rices for ...
Fighting brain cancer with weaponized human skin cells?
Human skin can be morphed into genetically modified, cancer-killing brain stem cells, according to a new study. This latest advance ...
Sleep to forget: Downtime helps our brains refine, sharpen memories
[W]hile scientists have long understood that our memories rely on connections being built between neurons in our brains, it's not ...
Millennial libertarian: ‘Stakes too high’ for Americans to ignore scientific consensus on GMOs
Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that genetically modified foods are safe for human consumption, Americans are generally distrustful of all ...
Why do people accept biotech in medicine but not GMO foods?
[Editor's note: this article summarizes a paper (PAY WALL) published in the journal Annual Review of Resource Economics.] In a paper─ The ...
Ghanaian researcher: Let science, not scare-mongering, guide our country’s GMO policy
[Editor's note: The author is currently a Ph.D. Candidate studying Plant Science at the South Dakota State University, Brookings, USA. He ...
‘Dark genome’ could yield answers to complex genetic diseases
The mysterious majority – as much as 98 percent – of our DNA do not code for proteins. Much of ...
Health care, energy, food could be transformed by synthetic biology
[Editor's note: Excerpts are taken from an interview with three experts in the field of synthetic biology: David Berry, general partner ...
Only conspiracy theories left to challenge science consensus that GMOs are safe
I have been writing about the GMO scientific consensus for quite some time, because this scientific consensus for the safety of GMO ...
Rett syndrome, other diseases could be treated by waking silenced genes
Rett syndrome...is a neurological developmental disorder and is classified as a particularly extreme form of autism. But, unlike most forms of ...
