Epigenetics
Epigenetics focus of next round of National Institute of Aging grants
The National Institute on Aging plans to award up to $800,000 next year to investigators' efforts to develop and plan ...
Epigenetic cellular controls key for sperm and cancers
Sometimes in science there are unexpected threads tying seemingly very different things together. Unraveling the knots in these threads can ...
Diet soda and sweeteners alter gut bacteria, contributing to obesity? Not so fast.
According to a just-released study in Nature, rather than helping you avoid consuming fat-producing calories, sugar-free sodas and 'diet' snacks ...
Gene clusters responsible for schizophrenia and patients’ unique disease profiles
Schizophrenia is not a single disease caused by one gene, but rather a group of eight distinct genetic disorders — ...
For premature babies, epigenetics maybe link to high cholesterol later in life
It has been said that cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure and elevated lipids have a beginning in childhood, ...
Chimpanzee’s highly heritable intelligence window on human IQ
General intelligence in chimpanzees appears to be about 50 percent heritable, which lines up with work on the genetics of ...
Grandma’s diet and diabetes: Epigenetic link found again
As with so much in science, this story owes a lot to mice. The tale begins with a pregnant mouse ...
Sperm contains dad’s lifestyle information alongside basic genetic material
Since I'm a guy, this may sound weird, but I've always found sperm to be pretty boring as cells. You ...
New growth standards for infants ignore natural genetic variation
Babies come in all shapes and sizes – or so you might imagine. But according to new international growth charts, ...
Is “reductionism” in behavioral genetics a boon or curse?
Reductionism haunts modern genetics, but how has this approach — akin to taking apart a watch to see how it ...
Phenol exposure during pregnancy may affect boy’s fetal growth
A research consortium has just published an epidemiological study indicating that exposure to certain phenols during pregnancy, especially parabens and ...
Parasite practices genetic mind control to spread infection
Toxoplasma gondii, the parasitic infection that may infect almost half the worlds human population uses some special trick to control ...
When the media hypes epigenetics, mothers take the blame
There's a lot of talk about epigenetics in the news, but scientists still don't know what it all means. A ...
Epigenetic changes may be responsible for Crohn’s disease
A new study finds a wide range of epigenetic changes -- alterations in DNA across the genome that may be ...
Do epigenetics reports unfairly target mothers?
Epigenetics studies expand what scientists understand about human genetics. It's a very cool field. It's gathered some media attention, as ...
New horizons and future directions for epigenetics
Ever since the age of Darwin — and especially since the discovery of DNA — scientists have thought of biological inheritance ...
Interplay of genes, gender, and environment crucial to developing addiction
Studies of substance abusers have long hinted that some people are at least partially genetically predisposed to addiction. This certainly ...
Alzheimer’s: Epigenetics and the APOE gene offer new reasons for hope
The genetics of Alzheimer's disease is complicated and still somewhat mysterious. But in the last week, researchers reported on two ...
Is epigenetics being exploited by the media?
Epigenetics has seen a flurry of research and headlines lately, achieving science-buzzword status. But is the immature nature of the ...
How ancient humans can help us better understand ourselves
For 200,000 years, modern humans have walked the earth. How did we become what we are today? In answering this ...
Role of epigenetics in blood formation revealed, with surprising results
The process of differentiation – in which a stem cell becomes a specialized mature blood cell – is controlled by ...
How the environment shapes our genetic code
The fascinating field of epigenetics studies how different environmental influences actually have the power to change gene expressions in our ...
Antibacterial soaps may cause epigenetic changes to fetus
As the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mulls over whether to rein in the use of common antibacterial compounds that ...
Rethinking addiction and the brain on drugs
Every day sees a new research article on addiction, be it cocaine, heroin, food or porn. Each one takes a specific angle on how addiction ...
Cancer genomes to enter private practice
New technology promises quick turn around for cancer genome testing, but do we understand tumor DNA well enough to capitalize? ...
Predicting illnesses based on inherited susceptibility to stress
Everyone feels stressed out at times; however, for some stress evolves into mental and physical illnesses that lead to even worse illnesses ...