Apr 30 2009
When scientific research is published, the authors often confess that they wish they’d collected more data. Critical reviews of research studies often say the same thing. Indeed, if there’s anything scientists love, it’s more data.
Which is why the members of an international team of genetic anthropologists led by Sarah Tishkoff of the University of [...]
Apr 29 2009
I spent the better part of my undergraduate career lugging around massive biology textbooks. General biology, genetics, embryology: It didn’t matter, they all weighed a ton. I pored over endless chapters of text, highlighting the important sentences, always wishing for more photos, more diagrams, more graphs. A single well-made diagram or image was easier to [...]
Apr 28 2009
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide information of value to individuals. For that [...]
Apr 27 2009
23andMe is proud to announce that, starting today, San Diego’s Palomar Pomerado Health (PPH), California’s largest public health district, will be offering our service to its members. This partnership marks the first time that a health care organization has provided our Personal Genome Service™ to members of its community, as well as the first time [...]
Apr 23 2009
Pocahontas
Every family has its legends. Maybe it’s a story about how they’re descended from a passenger on the Mayflower, a Confederate soldier or Charlemagne.
Of all the classic American family legends, stories of a Native American ancestor are among of the most common. Many times there’s a well-documented link to a Native forbear: Two First Ladies [...]
Apr 21 2009
DNA Day was created in 2003 by a congressional resolution to celebrate two important milestones in the study of genetics: the 50th anniversary of the description of the double-helix structure of DNA by James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick and the completion of the Human Genome Project. DNA Day is usually celebrated on April [...]
Apr 17 2009
The Royal House of Habsburg, one of the most powerful dynasties of Medieval and Renaissance Europe, reigned over much of Europe for centuries. Beginning in the early 12th century they quickly expanded their realm through a series of strategically executed marriages, from the mountains of Switzerland to a territory that included swaths of Austria, Hungary, [...]
Apr 16 2009
In 2005 two well-known human geneticists, Francis Collins and Thomas Gelehrter, made a bet: Collins wagered that by the 2008 American Society for Human Genetics meeting, genomewide association studies would have led to the discovery of at least four “validated – not just guessed at” susceptibility variants for at least five common diseases.
Collins won his [...]
Apr 15 2009
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide information of value to individuals. For that [...]
Apr 15 2009
Over the past decade, there has been no shortage of studies focused on the relationship between Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens. Researchers have dug deep into the fossil record and our genomes to uncover how closely related we are to the Neanderthals, whether we interacted with them, and even whether our two species [...]
