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.
Genetic clues to understanding inherited deafness
A causative gene for a highly common type of hearing loss—sensorineural hearing loss, or SNHL—has been identified by a group ...
Unapproved DNA drug therapy could reduce breast cancer and leukemia tumors
Promising data has revealed a new treatment for breast cancer and leukemia. It works by attacking cancer cells’ ability to repair ...
CRISPR may hold key to curing muscular dystrophy
At 24, Benjamin Dupree has outlived many people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy...Doctors say the disease is terminal, but they tell ...
Search underway for ‘super donors’ to facilitate gene therapy
Our bodies’ cells didn’t evolve to flourish in a petri dish. Even fast-growing skin cells stop dividing and turn thin ...
Infamous HIV “Patient Zero” declared innocent after genetic analysis
In the tortuous mythology of the AIDS epidemic, one legend never seems to die: Patient Zero, aka Gaétan Dugas, a ...
A voting guide for 2016 for those who care about science
Conflicted about this year's elections? Still on the fence about your candidates? Do you care about science? This graphic from ...
IVF doesn’t cause low sperm counts in boy babies—Genes do
Media coverage of a recent study about infertility among boys who were conceived through IVF highlights that many misunderstand how ...
Massive, landmark project sets to identify genetic risk of coronary disease in young people
The Genetics and Vascular Health Check study (GENVASC) aims to determine whether the addition of genetic information can better improve ...
NY State PTA proposal to ban GMOs from lunches sends wrong message to low-income parents
The New York State Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has proposed a measure that will require all New York state schools to serve ...
Precision and personalized medicine will fail if lack of racial diversity in genetic studies persists
The next big thing in medicine is supposed to be precision medicine ...[But we] have a big problem: Our genetic studies ...
Can gene editing lead to a cure of HIV?
[Scientists have] announced that they had used CRISPR/Cas9 to test gene after gene after gene in human immune system cells — ...
Girls tend to experience softer symptoms of autism than boys
Think autism and an image of an awkward boy typically emerges. The developmental disorder is at least four times more ...
Nutrition company ‘Habit’ will tell you what to eat based on your DNA
Over the past few decades, there have been diets that focus on increasing protein, eliminating fats, lowering calories—you name the ...
WHO’s cancer agency claims “transparency”, moves to block glyphosate Freedom of Information requests
The World Health Organization's cancer agency [IARC]--which is facing criticism over how it classifies carcinogens--advised academic experts ... who worked ...
How stem cell technology could revolutionize our food, medicine in our lifetime
Here are five benefits of stem cell research that we are likely to see within our lifetimes: ... 1. Regenerative ...
House committee to grill NIH over financial support for UN IARC agency accused of science bias
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is being called ... to explain why it gave tens of millions of dollars to the ...
LipidSeq: Cheaper, more accurate genetic test for high cholesterol
In a recent study conducted by the University of Western Ontario, researchers develop a new genetic testing method called LipidSeq ...
Is society ready for genetically modified humans, designer babies?
We single out the industrial revolutions of the past as major turning points in human history because they marked major ...
Brain scans reveal how one small fib snowballs into a whopper
A study of what goes on in the brain when someone tells a lie could offer a biological explanation for why untruths often ...
Bipolar disorder’s biological basis, how lithium works as treatment
[O]ver the years, lithium has remained a standby treatment [for bipolar disorder]. “It’s still arguably one of the best medications,” ...
Scientist’s video cook-off: Conventional hash browns vs. Simplot’s Innate non-browning potatoes
Plant pathologist Dr. Steve Savage, does a cooking demonstration using conventional potatoes and GMO non-browning potatoes to make hash browns. The GMO ...
How our Neanderthal ancestry helps us survive in the modern world
For the most part, [the DNA we inherited from Neanderthals] has been detrimental...[Neanderthal DNA] has been blamed for increasing risk of depression, ...
How America’s top bioterror cop patrols for warning signs of an attack
As a supervisory special agent in the weapons of mass destruction directorate in the FBI’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, [Edward You] ...
Autism gene? Rare tumor helps build map of how disorder works
The genetics surrounding autism has been the focus of many researchers’ investigations. MIT scientists recently reversed symptoms of autism through gene ...
Epigenetics and disease: No easy answers
How can epigenetics, the systems that turn genes off and on, help us understand disease? It may take a while ...
What adult ADHD, alcohol abuse and binge eating have in common: Heredity
Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adulthood are strongly associated with alcohol use problems and binge eating disorder, ...
Is EPA’s registration review of glyphosate being delayed for political reasons?
The Environmental Protection Agency appears to be punting a final decision on the safety of a controversial weedkiller into the ...
