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.
Skin cells of schizophrenia patients reveal faulty genetic pathway that began in womb
The skin cells of four adults with schizophrenia have provided an unprecedented "window" into how the disease began while they ...
Deep dive into dolphin genome may uncover drugs that protect human hearts, kidneys from damage
"Dolphins and humans are very, very similar creatures," said NIST's Ben Neely, a member of the Marine Biochemical Sciences Group ...
Decoding death: Craig Venter’s quest to uncover secret to immortality in our DNA
Craig Venter, the man in the late 1990s who, frustrated by the slow progress of the government-funded Human Genome Project, ...
Campbell’s Soup works with federal agencies to craft national GMO label
Drawing on extensive consumer research, The Campbell Soup Co.'s GMO disclosure labels on packs and online could serve as a ...
Swiss parliament backs extension of GMO crop ban to 2021
The Swiss parliament has approved a plan to extend the current moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture from ...
How CRISPR gene editing can speed up domestication to make crops more sustainable, nutritious
Out of the more than 300,000 plant species in existence, only three species – rice, wheat, and maize – account ...
Washington state judge fines activists on both sides of 2013 GMO law debate
A Washington state judge has ordered the Grocery Manufacturers Association on Wednesday to pay nearly $1.1 million in legal fees, ...
New EPA head Scott Pruit poised to challenge ‘politics driven’ farm chemical regulations
[Editor’s note: Henry Miller is a physician and molecular biologist, and was the founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology.] ...
Injured MLB pitchers opt for unproven stem cell injections over Tommy John surgery
[Editor's note: Tommy John surgery is a surgical procedure in which the ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow is replaced with ...
Kenya puts the breaks on GMO corn field trial
Kenya is withholding approval for field trials of genetically-modified corn because some officials argue that a ban on GMO imports ...
Getting Risk Right: Geoffrey Kabat’s book asks, “are we afraid of the wrong things?”
[Editor's note: Geoffrey Kabat is a cancer researcher and an epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.] Why do things that ...
Human Genome Project 2: Should scientists synthesize entire human genetic code from scratch?
In May 2016, scientists, lawyers and government representatives converged at Harvard to discuss the Human Genome Project-Write (HGP-Write), a plan ...
Evolutionary tradeoffs: Genes linked to autism may persist because they make us smarter
Autism genes may have been conserved during human evolution because they make us smarter, say scientists. More inherited genetic variants ...
Genetics lab payed doctors up to $144,000 annually to push unnecessary tests, employees claim
For doctors, the brochure from a California medical laboratory sounded like easy money: $30 for every person enrolled in a ...
Is non-GMO label a ‘declaration of opposition to farmers, science?’
[Editor's note: Trevor Charles is a microbiologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada.] [M]y tweet about an example of a ...
Can farmers reduce pesticide use but maintain expected yields? Study of French farms says yes
A team of researchers with members affiliated with several institutions in France has found that lowering the amount of pesticides ...
How GM canola oil engineered with high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids could reduce over-fishing
The surging demand [for Omega 3 fatty acids] has pushed fish oil prices to a record high and presented the ...
UK farmers push back against ‘pseudo-science attack’ on herbicide glyphosate
Hundreds of farmers across Britain are coming together in a concerted effort to show politicians and the public why glyphosate ...
Newest ally in fight against cancer, Alzheimer’s? Immune systems of plants
A natural defense that helps plants ward off insect predators, discovered at Washington State University, could lead to better crops ...
African scientists developing GMO sorghum with higher levels of vitamin A to tackle childhood blindness
Up to half a million children around the world are going blind every year due to a lack of Vitamin ...
Human brain could evolve to require very little sleep, study of tiny Mexican cavefish suggests
Neuroscientists at Florida Atlantic University have been studying Mexican cavefish to provide insight into the evolutionary mechanisms regulating sleep loss ...
Tanzania’s first ever GMO field trial: Drought-tolerant, insect-resistant corn ‘shows promising results’
Tanzania's first-ever genetically-modified crop trial was planted only a 30-minute drive from the capital. ... A year ago the Tanzanian ...
For precision medicine to work, physicians must incorporate holistic health factors, like belief
[Editor's note: Dr. Sharon Bergquist is a clinician in the division of general medicine and geriatrics at Emory University. She also ...
Only 1 percent of US farmland is certified organic. Why aren’t more farmers making the switch?
There are two stories to tell about the state of organic agriculture in the US. The first is a success ...
‘Superbugs’ could be killed with ‘genetic chainsaw’ version of gene editor CRISPR
When folks talk about the gene-editing tool CRISPR, they’re usually talking about CRISPR-Cas9, a combination of DNA and enzymes that ...
Loud noises kill cells vital for hearing, but gut stem cells may help regrow them
Humans are born with around 15,000 hair cells — think tiny, sound-sensing fibers — in each ear. The cells can’t ...
Massachusetts mulls restrictions on neonicotinoid pesticides over bee safety concerns
A type of pesticide many beekeepers blame for mass bee die-offs would come under tighter regulation under a bill filed ...
