Aug 07 2008
Dogs have served humans as guards, guides, retrievers, shepherds and companions for more than 10,000 years. Now geneticists are enlisting their help in another task — identifying the genetic roots of diseases that affect both man and beast.
Dogs suffer from a number of inherited eye conditions; the progression of their symptoms and gradual vision loss [...]
Aug 07 2008
Despite mounting genetic evidence that modern humans are not descended from Neanderthals, there are still some who argue that our two species interbred when both roamed Europe about 35,000 years ago.
A report appearing tomorrow in the journal Cell puts another nail in that theory’s coffin. Svante Paabo’s group at the Max Planck Institute for Anthropology [...]
Aug 05 2008
Just two weeks before the scheduled start of the Beijing Olympics, a German film crew caught a Chinese doctor on film offering to give athletes stem cell treatments to enhance their performance.
The reporter has since refused to identify the doctor on the tape and China has vehemently denied the documentary’s claims about the availability of [...]
Aug 04 2008
This guest post is by Brenna Henn, a doctoral student in Stanford University’s Department of Anthropology and a 23andMe consultant. Brenna studies human evolution using genetic information. Her interests include the origin of modern humans, migration patterns among African groups, and genetic models of demography.
A Nilotic-speaking pastoralist from Tanzania / Sarah A. Tishkoff [...]
Jul 31 2008
Even as the genetic studies on schizophrenia released this week illustrate our progress toward the ultimate goal of personalized medicine, they also bring to mind the challenges that still lie ahead.
All three studies focus on identifying the genetic bases of schizophrenia, a mental disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions and the decreased ability to plan and [...]
Jul 30 2008
Two years ago Stephen Colbert, host of the news-parody show, “The Colbert Report” coined the word “wikiality” to describe a reality defined by the majority.
“Nation, it’s time we used the power of our numbers for a real internet revolution,” Colbert told his audience. “Together we can create a reality that we can all agree on [...]
Jul 27 2008
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 [...]
Jul 24 2008
“Sometimes I feel like Sir James Murray must have felt while he was grubbing away at writing the Oxford English Dictionary,” the Washington Post once quoted Victor McKusick as saying. “He managed to complete the first 17 letters before he died.”
When McKusick, University Professor of Medical Genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the [...]
Jul 24 2008
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 [...]
Jul 23 2008
On the heels of his previous paper finding that participating in political activities such as voting is influenced in part by genes, political scientist James Fowler and his graduate student Christopher Dawes announced that they’ve identified two genes that are associated with voting itself.
In the current issue of The Journal of Politics, Fowler and Dawes [...]
