The Scientist
Ancestry.com launches genetic service, but how much can it tell about heritage?
With only a bit of your saliva, Ancestry.com can send you a list of people you are related to, even ...
Do we have bacteria DNA in our genomes?
Many animal genomes include bacterial and fungal genes acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) during evolution, according to a study ...
False memories implanted in mouse’s brain during sleep
Mice can recall artificial memories created during sleep once they’re awake, researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research ...
How beneficial gut bacteria survive the host’s immune response
Mammalian hosts fight gut infections in part by releasing antimicrobial peptides that disrupt bacterial membranes. But it has been unclear ...
‘Non-GMO’ genetic tool helps yogurt fend off bacterial viruses
Two years ago, a genome-editing tool referred to as CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) burst onto the scene ...
Insects provide valuable look into genetics of how societies are built
Eusocial insects are among the most successful living creatures on Earth. Found in terrestrial ecosystems across the globe (on every ...
Microbiome and your vagina: How race, age and lifestyle create a unique inner world and may impact pregnancy
For years, researchers characterized the microbial community of women’s vaginas as being dominated by Lactobacillus bacteria, which ferment carbohydrates to lactic acid, ...
New type of stem cell challenges understanding of pluripotency
Researchers from Canada’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and their international colleagues have uncovered a new type of pluripotent mouse stem cell—the ...
Synthetic gene networks stored, preserved on freeze-dried paper
Imagine pulling a small piece of paper out of your desk drawer, adding a drop of water, and within hours ...
Can the ability to learn be restored in an aging brain?
The time window for the brain to develop optimal connections based on learning and experience is relatively short-lived, occurring prior ...
Gut microbiome makes flu vaccine more or less effective
Proteins from intestinal microbes can enhance the effectiveness of the seasonal flu vaccine, according to a mouse study. While the ...
CRISPR corrects mutant gene for incurable blood disorder
The genome-editing method involving CRISPR and Cas9 has been called into duty for a wide variety of jobs, from cutting integrated HIV ...
How nanotechnology is revolutionizing medicine
In a 1959 lecture at Caltech famously dubbed “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” American physicist and Nobel laureate–to-be ...
Snipping HIV out of the genome
Like other retroviruses, the genetic material of HIV wedges itself into the genome of its human host. While antiretroviral therapies ...
Nutrition scientist fights to save Golden Rice research from retraction
In hopes of preventing the retraction of her 2012 paper in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which led to much controversy regarding ...
Estimates of number of human genes dips below 20,000
An analysis of proteomic data from seven studies suggests the human genome contains fewer than 20,000 protein-coding genes, 1,700 fewer ...
Some see future of profit in stem cell line banking
About four years ago, Jay Tischfield, the director of RUDCR Infinite Biologics, a long-standing biorepository at Rutgers University, found himself ...
Stem cell creation technique changes their usability
In the process of converting a somatic cell to a stem cell, researchers have questioned whether the resulting cells retain ...
Our primate ancestors enjoyed a nip, too
When we think about the origins of agriculture and crop domestication, alcohol isn’t necessarily the first thing that comes to ...
Docs get guidance for patient genomes in practice
In a review article published this week (June 19) in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have released guidelines ...
Whirlwind tour of career of Bruce Ames, inventor of test to determine chemical toxicity
On an otherwise ordinary day in 1964, Bruce Ames picked up a box of potato chips and read the list of ingredients ...
Some worms’ genes shorten lifespans depending on diet
Evidence that diet can profoundly affect aging is beginning to emerge, sometimes through targeted studies and other times by accident ...
Fear of GMOs prevent GM barley resistant to ‘vomitoxin’-producing fungi from reaching beers
This past summer, exceptionally hot and humid for many, was brutal for the small-scale barley farmers who have been cropping ...
Bruce Ames, identifier of mutation causing chemicals, lists his greatest discoveries
In an otherwise ordinary day in 1964, Bruce Ames picked up a box of potato chips and read the list ...
Females can change their reproductive tracts depending on the sperms X or Y chromosome
Old wives’ tales abound about how to tip the odds of conceiving a boy or a girl. Some say that ...
New job for RNA: Hold tight to proteins to turn genes on and off
The small RNA RsmZ is known to sequester proteins that repress translation in bacteria. A study published in Nature this ...
Sequencing cancer genomes, rather than testing specific genes is future of treatment
In the march toward personalized medicine, genotyping cancers has become more and more complex. Panels that pick up variations in ...
Chemicals affect sperm health, now we know how
Additives known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) compromise male fertility by interfering with a membrane-bound calcium channel that normally controls ...
