Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
New paradigm for genetic counseling
In the old days (like a year or two ago) only a small portion of the patient population were thought ...
Extra chromosome 21 removed from Down syndrome cell line
University of Washington scientists have succeeded in removing the extra copy of chromosome 21 in cell cultures derived from a ...
Link between child prodigies and autism
While child prodigies have been recognized throughout history, a new study has found a possible link between those we would ...
Identical twins may not be quite so identical
Identical twins may not be so identical after all. Even though identical twins supposedly share all of their DNA, they ...
The Monsanto fallacy
It’s my favorite new logical fallacy, the “Appeal to Monsanto”, the world’s largest producer of biotech agriculture seeds. This is ...
Cloning versus habitat protection in wildlife conservation
Biotechnicians want to use cloning to save endangered species, but they are having only limited success. Critics say that the ...
Rare genetic variants may not as influential in common disease as once thought
Rare tweaks in single letters of DNA are not as powerful a force in health and in common diseases as ...
Last 500 Ethiopian wolves endangered by lack of genetic diversity
The last wolves in Africa face a difficult road if they are going to survive. Just 500 Ethiopian wolves (Canis ...
Genetic links found between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
A study published recently in Nature found new genetic links between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, two autoimmune gut diseases ...
Sheep breeders at the “cutting edge” of genetics
Agriculture and animal husbandry have strong ties to the history of genetics -- Darwin, after all, relied heavily on evidence ...
Organic versus inorganic: an important distinction, but not for obvious reasons
The distinction between organic and inorganic -- natural versus unnatural -- carries massive cultural, historical, and social freight, as demonstrated ...
Six-year study of salmon genetics represents “a model of stakeholder participation”
A massive study of salmon genetics undertaken in Alaska over the last six years is notable both for its sheer ...
“Why is a statistician talking to you about personalized medicine?”
The role of statistics in personalized medicine is to examine the broad, sweeping trends of particular treatments in order to ...
Ethnic diversity is hallmark of 10,000-person genetic study of type 2 diabetes
In the search for the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes, a group of researchers have made a point to ...
Genetic data may be double-edged sword
Another heavyweight addresses the concerns of the burgeoning era of personal medicine: Nancy Andrews, Dean of Medicine at Duke University, ...
Scientists cheer death of Prop 37
Scientists, on the whole, are pleased to see Prop 37 fail this week. This blog post from SciAm explains the ...
Call to arms from Grist in wake of Prop 37 loss
Despite the defeat of Prop 37, the food movement is being urged to keep fighting the good fight. Grist, in ...
Genetics at center of several “battlegrounds” in next 4 years
In the wake of Obama's victory, Wired takes a look at the battles to come in the next four years ...
Mapping the chocolate genome: hope of improved cacao plants
Mark Guiltinan is a professor of plant molecular biology in the Department of Horticulture in the College of Agricultural Sciences ...
Despite defeat, Prop 37 proponents will keep fighting
Despite losing the popular vote by six percentage points, the Proposition 37 campaign, which fought to require California labeling of ...
Gene therapy offers “revolution” in prostate cancer treatment
Scientists have discovered new way of slowing the growth of prostate cancer. For the first time experiments have successfully targeted ...
Proposition 37.1: let’s start this conversation
In the shadow of Proposition 37's defeat maybe we can have a real conversation. Angry, uninformed discussion based on fear ...
Genetic counseling and medical ethics in the age of personal genomics
On October 25th, Time Magazine ran an article about genetic testing of children with the provocative title, “What Your Doctor ...
Science versus values in personal genomics for children
When it comes to what a child should know I tend to disagree with the consensus among genetic counselors. It ...
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing is here to stay
Geneticist Ricki Lewis says direct-to-consumer genetic testing is here to stay, addresses fears and realities around this new development in ...
Soldier beetle’s genes may hold key for synthesizing antibiotic, anti-cancer chemicals
New antibiotic and anti-cancer chemicals may one day be synthesised using biotechnology, following CSIRO's discovery of the three genes that ...
Humans, chimps, monkeys: same DNA different gene regulation
Humans share over 90% of their DNA with their primate cousins. The expression or activity patterns of genes differ across ...
