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.
Gene therapy treatment for bowel cancer may be on the horizon
Bowel cancer’s origins can often be traced back to just a single faulty gene: APC – short for adenomatous polyposis coli ...
Mitochondrial medicine: Pushing the limits of resuscitation
Mitochondria are the power plants of the cell. Along with understanding the role of mitochondria in causing damage to the ...
Understanding HIV’s genetic code will help treat patients with greater precision
A virus contains its own genes, but it is able to replicate only when it gets inside the cells of ...
DDT found to dramatically raise breast cancer risk in women exposed while in womb
Women exposed in the womb to high levels of the pesticide DDT have a nearly fourfold increased risk of developing breast cancer, ...
Synthetic internal ‘clock’ could help treat obesity
Non-scientists generally think of “circadian clock” as a metaphoric term. There’s nothing literally ticking away inside the human body, helping ...
Legal battle ensues with Myiad Genetics over DNA ownership rights
The High Court in Canberra has begun hearing a case pitting 69-year-old Brisbane grandmother Yvonne D'Arcy against a US biotech ...
Moms’ genes pass fatal flaws onto sons more than daughters
Men are doomed by their mothers - because women pass on genetic flaws which may explain why males die sooner, ...
DNA test to sell personalized skin care products: Scam or science?
What’s being billed as the future of skin care starts suspiciously like a visit to the dentist: with a mouthwash ...
Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal: Debating gender and racial identity
Some in the queer community have summarily dismissed any possible similarities between Caitlyn Jenner - who recently came out as a trans ...
280 global science organizations affirm consensus for GMO food and crop safety
Currently there is a social and political controversy about the safety of of foods produced from genetically modified (GM) crops, ...
Could spray on DNA barcoding contain health contamination crises and trace GMOs?
Food contamination outbreaks could be better tracked with a new technology: spraying DNA barcodes directly onto food. It could also ...
Ovary transplants could help fight infertility, but what are the risks?
For the first time, a woman who had an ovary removed as a child and part of it re-implanted as ...
Finding Ebola’s hiding place key to stopping another major outbreak
No one foresaw, back in December 2013, that the little boy who fell ill in a village called Méliandou, in ...
America is experiencing its worst bird flu outbreak ever: Why aren’t we more concerned?
Which epidemic has caused Americans greater anxiety: the Ebola outbreak, which began last year in Africa and has killed thousands ...
Genetically modified rice could help address China’s smog problems
Chinese scientists have found a way to change the genetic make-up of a popular species of rice, a move they ...
African indigenous vegetables are genetic treasure trove of nutrition, hardiness
In Nairobi, indigenous vegetables were once sold almost exclusively at hard-to-find specialized markets; and although these plants have been favoured ...
Can the placebo effect serve as actual medical treatment?
Currently, studies have shown that our genes can be modified by epigenetic factors such as; diet, life experiences, beliefs, perceptions, ...
Diets personalized to people’s biology could help curb disease
Scientists have created bespoke diets using a computer algorithm that learns how individual bodies respond to different foods. Researchers believe ...
How one man’s unique blood became life-saving medication
On the surface, James Harrison is just an average guy. He loves his daughter and grandchildren, collects stamps, and goes ...
Meet Watchfrogs: GM frogs and fish detect endocrine disrupting chemicals in wastewater
The public brouhaha over the first GM animal designed for human consumption--the AquaBounty salmon-- has thrown a cloud over the ...
Breeding barley for antioxidants could make healthier, longer lasting pita bread
Healthier and longer lasting pita bread may be the outcome of barley research underway at the University of Adelaide's Waite ...
Papua New Guinea community shows genetic resistance to mad cow, other brain conditions
Research involving a former brain-eating tribe from Papua New Guinea is helping scientists better understand mad cow disease and other so-called prion ...
We’re entering a new generation of precision medicine
For decades, doctors treated nearly all patients with the same disease in the same way, aware that drugs that worked ...
Why we need a ‘dispassionate’ look at GMOs
Despite myriad assurances from scientists that foods containing genetically modified ingredients are safe to eat, consumers are likely to see ...
Creativity-mental illness link not as strong as advertised in new study
Genetic variations that can collectively increase a person’s risk of being diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can also be ...
Woman gives first-ever birth to child with ovarian tissue frozen before puberty
A case study reports on a young woman who gave birth to a healthy child after doctors restored her fertility ...
Some epigenetic changes in DNA are heritable, and research is beginning to explain how
In recent decades scientists have learned that DNA alone is not destiny, and they’ve been focusing on another layer of ...
