Apr 18
Remember those slightly horrifying sites that mash up two faces to tell you what your hypothetical babies might look like? With genome sequencing and "virtual embryos," we might actually be able to do that—using science.
Apr 10
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh showed this week that they could teach an old mouse’s thymus to bounce back to a healthy, youthful state, simply by manipulating a single protein that controls gene expression. It’s the first time scientists have been able to regenerate a living organ by gene manipulation, and it could have huge implications in health science.
Apr 04
Wood scientists just announced an exciting breakthrough in tree research. They’ve come up with a way to make more environmentally friendly paper—by genetically modifying trees. And it’s not just the paper industry that will benefit.
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Mar 21
Everyone knows that DNA can be invaluable when it comes to solving crimes
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Mar 16
The recent announcement by a British medical ethics board in favor of an experimental three-parent IVF treatment
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Feb 21
Everyone knows that as men age so do their sperm, slowing a little and becoming less… potent. But research suggests that sperm actually mutate with age—which in turn could increase the chances of fathering a child with a genetic disorder.
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Feb 20
While dinosaurs have not yet been resurrected Jurassic Park-style, scientists fiddling with ancient DNA sequences have made a discovery that may turn out to be a tad more useful: a treatment for gout. That a 90 million-year-old protein could treat a modern disease is a fascinating window into evolutionary history.
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Feb 19
The advent of genetically modified crops has promised heartier food and higher yields that could potentially reduce poverty and malnutrition rates the world over. Two decades later, they’re also broadly maligned and mistrusted. But is it finally time to put down the pitchforks?
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Feb 14
The Science of Marrying Your Cousin
Posted in: Today's Chili
In modern western society, marrying your cousin is not well accepted, particularly in the United States. Through a combination of old prejudices and present-day conventional wisdom about inherited birth defects, first cousin marriage is seen by many as a little too close for comfort, as well as a bad idea if you want children.
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Jan 24
Somewhere 11,000 years ago, something weird happened to a dog. It got cancer—and the really damn freaky part is that the cancer could survive even outside of its canine host. That unknown dog is long dead now, but its tumor cells have improbably lived on, continuing to sprout on the genitalia of dogs all over the world.
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