Health & Medicine
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.
‘Algorithmic death spiral’: The failing mental health of our machines
Is my car hallucinating? Is the algorithm that runs the police surveillance system in my city paranoid? Marvin the android ...
Antibiotic resistance may be dangerous—but it’s hardly new
Despite media reports, antibiotics always faced microbe resistance. Can studying their genetics show us a path to new drugs ...
Can we reverse aging in dogs through gene therapy? If so, humans could be next.
The world’s most influential synthetic biologist is behind a new company that plans to rejuvenate dogs using gene therapy. If ...
Viewpoint: Doctors need better training if DNA sequencing becomes standard care
[Recently] the CEO of Pennsylvania health care provider Geisinger announced that its doctors will now offer patients DNA sequencing “as part of ...
Sex in space? An awkward talk we will need to have
As the prospect of Mars colonization grows on the public radar screen, sex talk is not as much taboo that ...
Night shift workers are at greater risk for obesity, diabetes, cancer—but why?
Researchers have been studying night workers for years, trying to better understand what happens to our circadian rhythms and our ...
Does ‘brain stress’ play a key role in our obesity epidemic?
Keeping off weight is harder than it seems, but it could be due to how our brains are wired ...
Mind or matter? How consciousness in the universe could be ‘eternal’
Which is more fundamental, mind or matter? You would think, in our ultra-materialistic era, that debate would be settled. But ...
Does an extra glass of wine take 30 minutes off your life? That’s ‘outlandish’
A few weeks ago, the media ran wild with an outlandish claim that an extra glass of wine will take ...
Does birth control affect who women are attracted to?
A commonly touted theory about how women’s attraction to men works might be all wrong, suggests a new paper published this week ...
Delving into our dreams—and why they evolve as we age
Although radically different in terms of their content and feel, the range of dream states are just as complex as ...
‘One shot’ treatment for hemophilia B uses CRISPR and stem cells
Scientists at the Salk Institute have combined CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing with stem cell technology to generate a one-time, autologous cell therapy for the genetic ...
The ‘Big O’: How and why evolution brought us the female orgasm
Female orgasms aren’t necessary for reproduction. A comparative evolution study suggests they once might have been ...
Reproductive warfare: Do infertile ‘kamikaze sperm’ thwart rival males?
In the 1990s, biologist Robin Baker put forth the idea that a significant proportion of human sperm are not actually capable of ...
What dog lovers get right and wrong about canine genetics
Dog lovers talk a big game when it comes to genetics. Who hasn’t heard someone claim to know which breeds ...
Antidepressant matchmaker? Genetic test could help identify correct drugs faster
Depression is a complicated condition, and so are the people it affects. It’s often difficult — and can take months ...
Did math build a barrier between scientists and God?
In a new book called The Great Rift: Literacy, Numeracy, and the Religion-Science Divide, Michael E. Hobart offers a new twist on ...
Quest to figure out why our hair turns gray yields new answer
Scientists think they’ve stumbled upon a newly discovered mechanism that could explain why some people’s hair turns gray and others ...
Tracing the ancient roots of antibiotic resistance could help us today
Most of our antibiotics have come from microbes that live in the soil. These organisms naturally make antibiotics for their ...
Can ‘G-spotplasty’ surgery boost sexual satisfaction in women?
Three women have received a surgery intended to improve G-spot sensitivity and increase sexual satisfaction. The procedure tightens tissue in ...
Why we find ourselves at the limits of human lifespan
The 20th century was a period of unprecedented biological growth for our species. The average human lifespan increased from 31 years in ...
Golf legend Jack Nicklaus tries experimental stem cell therapy for ‘debilitating’ back pain
For much of his professional golf career [Jack] Nicklaus has had aggravating back pain that he describes as an eight ...
44 genetic variants linked to depression — and we may all carry some of them
Depression is a tricky beast. Symptoms vary widely from person to person, as does the response to treatment. But there’s no ...
Earth’s weirdest and most exotic creatures: Research bonanza for genetics and science
From the axolotl’s regenerating limbs to naked mole rat cancer resistance, new sequencing is uncovering new possibilities ...
‘Anti-vaxxers’ are starting to focus on pets—even though they can’t get autism
Dogs cannot get ‘autism’, the British Veterinary Association has warned, after the ‘anti-vaccine’ movement spread to pets. 'Anti-vaxxers' believe that ...
The ambitious effort to sequence the DNA of earth’s 1.5 million animals, plants and fungi
In what will undoubtedly be the largest genomic sequencing effort of all time, an international consortium of researchers is organizing ...
Kevin MacDonald responds to criticism of his theory of Jewish ethnocentrism and influence
Nathan Cofnas’s GLP article summarizes some of his points from his previous two comments on my work, and, although he ...
