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.
Human brain: ‘Squishy machine with chemical gears and switches’
The fields of behavioral and psychiatric genetics – which try to parse out how our genes affect what we do ...
GMOs are a touchy subject at the dinner table. Is thoughtful debate possible?
The subject of GMOs can whip pleasant dinner conversation into an ugly froth. It’s a complicated issue, produced with complicated science. Worse, many ...
Micro device gives doctors peek into brain tissue during surgery
A dipstick inserted into the brain can check its energy levels, just like checking oil levels in a car. The ...
East meets west: How biotechnology accelerates shrinking of global economic divide
If current economic growth trends persist, the “great divergence” between Western Europe and East and South Asia in per capita ...
Health not all about genetics: More focus on lifestyle needed
Much of the current research on treating disease and staying healthy has focused on our genetic makeup – from the ...
Mutations that cause infertility detected through new genotyping strategy
Cornell researchers have developed an experimental strategy to identify infertility-causing mutations found in human populations. These mutations are known as single nucleotide ...
Mitochondrial dysfunction may play role in heart failure
While all cells in the body rely on metabolic pathways that take place within the mitochondria, the cells of some ...
Celebrity GMO critic Food Babe pitches products with ingredient she demonizes
While “Food Babe” Vani Hari’s pseudoscience has been widely debunked by qualified doctors and scientists, a more sobering fact seems ...
Sci-Fi suspended animation: Not the same as cryonics but might save your life
Surgical research into hypothermia, long fodder for sci-fi movies, may yet reach the point of finding ways to preserve people ...
While UK embraces life-saving germline editing, US mired in debate as promising life-saving cases go untreated
Thousands of women with mitochondria disease have no hope of having children without genetic editing or assisted reproduction techniques. Critics ...
Golden rice paper retracted over ethical concerns, not quality of science
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article from the Retraction Watch website: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is retracting a paper that ...
Boston Globe Editorial: GMO state labeling bills misguided, exaggerates illogical fears of food and Big Ag
Congress created mandatory nationwide food labels, and it is Congress that has a responsibility to ensure they don't stray from ...
Are too many newborns receiving costly, unnecessary intensive care?
More and more newborns are going to the neonatal intensive care unit. Between 2007 and 2012, NICU admission rates in ...
3 ways GMO rice could improve world but tech hurdles and anti-GMO protests block way
New GMO varieties of rice could improve nutrition, cut potentially dangerous arsenic levels and help combat climate change, but activist ...
Office air-conditioning overuse promotes global warming…and sex discrimination?
It happens every summer: Offices turn on the air-conditioning, and women freeze into Popsicles. Finally, scientists (two men, for the ...
What accounts for autism’s steady rise?
Autism diagnosis has skyrocketed over the last several decades. In 1985, one in 2500 children were considered to be autistic; ...
Are imperfect, ‘leaky’ vaccines resulting in emergence of nastier viruses?
Some in medicine argue that 'imperfect' vaccines that do not eliminate all viruses from the host may lead to the ...
Some geneticists worry ‘gene drive’ tech could create bio-weapon or environmental disaster
A powerful new technique for generating “supercharged” genetically modified organisms that can spread rapidly in the wild has caused alarm ...
What’s the brave new world of big data genomics?
The Human Genome Project (HGP), the first endeavor and practice of genomics in its real sense, will further demonstrate its ...
World Health Organization preparing speedy administration of Ebola vaccine to vulnerable communities
A vaccine for Ebola produced in just one year instead of the usual decade provides 100-percent protection against the disease ...
‘Natural’ IVF simpler, possibly safer than conventional method
More than five million people worldwide born through IVF since the arrival in 1978 of the world’s first “test tube” ...
Small contributions from Neanderthals, Denosovans had huge influence on modern human genome
Our ancestors were not a picky bunch. Overwhelming genetic evidence shows that Homo sapiens had sex with Neanderthals, Denisovans and other archaic ...
Resveratrol in red wine might protect against cancer, but don’t reach for drink just yet
Researchers in Leicester have published the results of a new study showing that relatively small doses of purified resveratrol, a chemical found ...
New single-injection Ebola vaccine promising in human trials
The publication of research showing the efficacy of the Ebola VSV-ZEBOV vaccine represents an incredible and humbling achievement that has only ...
IBM’s Watson supercomputer pairs with CVS in hopes of short-circiuiting illnesses
Pharmacists are trained to identify potentially harmful drug interactions, but they can't really help prevent illnesses from developing in the ...
Will Hollywood anti-GMO/pro-labeling activists Lena Dunham and Gwyneth Paltrow consider science?
Human geneticist who now opposes mandatory GMO labeling appeals to actresses to engage independent university scientists and not just ideologues ...
Is there a genetic switch that causes ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)?
We don't know the causes of ALS in most patients, but about 10 percent of cases are thought to be ...
