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Alligator teeth could help humans grow new gnashers
USC researchers have uncovered the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind tooth renewal in alligators. The scientists found that when an ...
Growing mini-brains: What are the ethical concerns?
At what point does a bundle of brain cells become a brain, and is it ethical to push those limits? ...
The ethics of ‘mini human brains’
You’ve probably already heard about the miniature ‘human brain’ grown in laboratory. It’s not hard to see why these little blobs ...
The Sports Gene: Athleticism as a complex trait
Sports Illustrated writer David Epstein has a new book out, The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. The title strikes me ...
Kloor: Critic of pseudoscience = defender of industry?
If you follow the public debate on genetically modified foods, you know it’s become unhinged from reality. This is because ...
Keith Kloor: The GE labeling debate
There are two camps that favor labeling genetically modified [GM] foods: 1) The “Right to Know” people, who say they ...
Study shows direct link between rice consumption and arsenic-induced genetic damage
It’s been more than a decade since scientists first raised an alarm about arsenic levels in rice—based on the realization ...
Ancestry testing as a Rorschach test
The website The Root often has a Q & A with various African Americans, famous and not so famous, about their genealogy ...
Natural selection is randomly inevitable
Evolutionary genetics as a field emerged in the early 20th century. There were some upsides to this. R. A. Fisher was alive, so ...
Elle Magazine hops aboard the GMO Fright Train
As I have previously observed, “the belief that GMO foods are deadly or potentially harmful” has come to dominate the ...
Kloor: Green America takes on GE
As if the meaning of “natural” wasn’t already overly twisted for ideological and commercial purposes. Check out this campaign recently launched ...
The statistics of genetic variation
You have probably heard or read that most genetic variation is within races, not between races. This assertion has led, in my opinion, to unwarranted inferences ...
The inbred lineage you can improve
Thanks to the efforts of geneticists the story of the extinction of the Spanish Habsburgs is now well known. They are in short a ...
Most mutations in the human genome are recent and probably harmful
We really are a mutant race. Our genomes are strewn with millions of rare gene variations, the result of the ...
Virologists study H7N9 flu family tree to predict pandemic threat
Influenza virus H7N9 may be the next virus most likely to cause a pandemic. Earlier this year, the previously unknown avian ...
Genetic diversity and intellectual disability
It is generally understood that inbreeding has some negative biological consequences for complex animals. But what, specifically, are the consequences of ...
The Y chromosome shall not die
The following is an edited excerpt. One of the weirder stories over the past decade in relation to the Y ...
Who’s polarizing the GE debate? Greenpeace
The following is an edited excerpt. I love this piece in the Guardian about GMOs, I really do. It’s so ...
CNN features outrageous anti-GE views
The following is an edited excerpt. The latest frightful example of GE fear-mongering aired Monday on CNN. It was a ...
Faroe Islands aim to sequence genes of entire country
The Health Ministry of the Faroe Islands plans to sequence the genomes of every interested citizen ...
Do liberals oppose genetically modified organisms more than conservatives?
The following is an excerpt. There has been recent talk about GMOs and political orientation recently. Keith Kloor has pointers to the ...
The genetic legacy of the conquistadors
The following is an edited excerpt. A few year ago there was a minor controversy when some evolutionary genomicists reported ...
Researchers find gene for rooster’s sex organ size
The following is an excerpt. Given the chicken’s agricultural importance, scientists long knew that, like 97% of bird species, roosters ...
When journalists say really stupid stuff about genetic engineering
The following is an edited excerpt. I’ve been arguing that the worst misinformation and myths about genetically modified foods has ...
Why genetic modification myths are so appealing and powerful
The following is an edited excerpt. While I admire this optimism and agree that we should continue to engage in ...
The forecast on the race, genetics, and intelligence debate
The following is an editorial summary. It is often said that race is a social fact and a biological fiction ...
10,000 hours may gain you little if you have no talent
The following is an excerpt. A few years ago Malcolm Gladwell made the “10,000 hour rule” famous in his book Outliers. In practice (e.g., discussions ...
Why race as a biological construct matters
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. My own inclination has been to not get bogged down in ...