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.
Swedish court: Coop grocery chain ‘misled’ consumers by claiming organic food safer, healthier
The makers of the viral 2015 “Organic Effect” video, which claimed that switching to an all organic diet can eliminate ...
Why do women suffer more migraines than men?
Women suffer about twice as many severe headaches and migraines as men. Genetics likely plays a role. According to a review published ...
DNA of sports: What can genes tell us about our athletic and running potential?
Imagine someone had tested my genes as a podgy kid and told me: [S]orry, it’s not through lack of effort ...
NY Times’ Carl Zimmer: CRISPR gene editing vital but offers ethical challenges
[Editor's Note: Carl Zimmer is a columnist at the New York Times, where his column "Matter" appears each week. He ...
Scientists reconsider phage therapy to battle antibiotic-resistant infections
Today, the world faces an alarming public health threat from multi-drug-resistant infections. The World Health Organization calls bacterial resistance “one of the ...
Vitamin-A rich GMO banana, which could fight malnutrition in Africa, ready for field trials
Scientists in Australia have created golden-orange-fleshed bananas rich in pro-vitamin A that could save the lives of hundreds of thousands ...
Is pink bollworm pest developing resistance to GMO Bt corn in India?
Genetically modified or Bt cotton is no longer resistant to pink bollworm - a major pest in Mahahrashtra, prompting the state government to write ...
Infographic: Understanding ‘hazard vs risk’ illustrates lack of science behind IARC’s glyphosate cancer designation
Lately in the news of agriculture there has been a lot of controversy over the popular herbicide glyphosate being labeled ...
Addictions: Are overeating and drug use hardwired in the brain’s ‘reward circuit’?
Neuroscientists have found that food and recreational drugs have a common target in the “reward circuit” of the brain, and ...
NYU ethicists: ‘Biologically’ modified mosquitoes should be deployed to fight Zika
[Arthur Caplan and Kelly Folkers are ethicists at New York University.] Zika is here to stay as a highly dangerous warm-weather pest ...
Talking Biotech: Domesticating wild plants to seed new crops and foods
Brazilian plant physiologist Lazaro Peres: Using genetic technology to identify desirable traits in wild plants and create new crops ...
Less toxic cigarettes? ‘Genetic road map’ of tobacco could lead to reduced carcinogen levels
A new genetic road map of tobacco has been used to successfully identify and clone two mutated genes associated with ...
‘Science moms’ defend Food Evolution movie against Zen Honeycutt’s ‘propaganda’ accusation
[Written by Alison Bernstein, Layla Katiraee, Jenny Splitter, Kavin Senapathy, and Anastasia Bodnar.] Despite numerous statements that the producers had creative ...
Opinion: ‘Fear-based’ food labels—like Dannon’s GMO-free claims—undermine confidence in safe food system
[Editor's note: Kent Messer is a professor at the University of Delaware.] As a behavioral economist, I analyze what motivates ...
LA Times: Food Evolution GMO movie persuasive not polemical, ‘potentially revolutionary’
Calm, careful, potentially revolutionary, "Food Evolution" is an iconoclastic documentary on a hot-button topic. Persuasive rather than polemical, it's the ...
Drug weapons: Computer designed proteins prepare to battle the next pandemic
Researchers are using computer modeling to design new antiviral proteins that could slow down, or stop, global outbreaks of deadly ...
Usain Bolt’s asymmetrical gait: Does running unevenly make him faster?
Usain Bolt is the world's fastest man. But does that also mean that compared to all other competitive runners on ...
What might autism researchers learn from schizophrenia?
The general features [of autism] are nearly identical to those of another heritable condition: schizophrenia. The pattern is so distinctive ...
CRISPR’s high costs may limit development of gene therapy drugs
The ruckus over the CRISPR gene-editing system hides a dark reality: its high cost may make it unaffordable and questions ...
Say that again? Drug treatment could help older brains distinguish sounds
Have you noticed that learning languages or musical instruments becomes harder as you get older? It may be because your ...
Letter denouncing Food Evolution as ‘propaganda’ misses opportunity for constructive GMO discussion
[Terrance Bradshaw is the director of the University of Vermont's Apple and Grape Program and Horticulture Research and Education Center ...
Fighting depression: Drugs stimulating growth of new brain cells may be key
Depression is something of a black box. Its underlying causes aren't completely understood, nor why particular medications work for some ...
Bladder control: Is there a genetic treatment for urinary incontinence?
Treatment options for urinary incontinence may be revealed through a genome-wide association study searching for genes that may contribute to ...
Working late-night shifts may wreck your body’s ability to repair its DNA
Working at night has been associated with a wide range of negative health effects, including cognitive impairment, metabolic disorders, and breast cancer...Now, new ...
Defensive measures: Early vertebrates employed gene-regulating proteins to battle viruses
Viruses and their hosts have been at war for more than a billion years...Although the earliest antiviral systems have long ...
Biological countdown: Male fertility fights the clock, too
For men who are reluctant to start a family, it is an age-old defence: there is no need to rush ...
Chinese government, Dow Chemical work together to convince public GMO foods safe
With a population of 1.4 billion and limited arable land, China is trying hard to convince citizens to accept genetically ...
