Human Spotlight
Anti-GMO activists take page out of anti-chemical and anti-BPA lobby, targeting the ‘black box’ of endocrine disruption
Anti-GMO activists are taking a page out of the anti-chemical lobby in claiming that genetic modification can disrupt normal endocrine ...
Autism increase mystery solved? No, it’s not vaccines, GMOs, glyphosate—or organic foods
A change in how we diagnose and report autism and not vaccines, glyphosate or chemtrails is the prime mover as ...
Will science ever be able to create an artificial womb?
In the coming years, the obstacles to ectogenesis --development outside of a mother from fertilization to full-term infancy-- will be ...
Stretching human life span to 200 years? Implications of bowhead whale study
A major player in the anti-genetic engineering nutritional industry is behind longevity studies on whales, that might lead to the ...
Sudan connection: Are Ethiopian Jews descendants of the ancient Israelites?
A broad suite of genetic and historical evidence points to an ancient Jewish heritage for Ethiopian Jews, contradicting established theory ...
‘Neanderthal Man’ — Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo revolutionized anthropology. Here is a look back at his groundbreaking 2014 memoir
Svante Pääbo's memoir of how he came to lead a project to sequence the Neanderthal genome— Neanderthal Man: In Search ...
Artificial wombs: The coming era of motherless births?
Scientifically, it’s called ectogenesis, a term coined by J.B.S. Haldane in 1924. The technology is on its way. How will ...
Childhood trauma: The kids are not alright, and part of the explanation may be linked to epigenetics
The old adage about kids being resilient and able to bounce back from early traumas isn't necessarily borne out by ...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren controversy: Almost every American has a sliver of Native American ancestry
The reporting on the largest genetic study of American ancestry—claims that Americans are a genetic melting pot of white, black ...
DNA sequencing for mass data collection may lower consumer costs to zero
A well-organized, highly curated database of genetic data from millions of people is a potential goldmine for drug company researchers ...
Overcoming genetic risks with healthy lifestyle choices
It is often said in the context of lifestyle diseases that “genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.” This ...
Why some Amish are genetically wired to live longer
Although known mainly for their adherence to an older, simpler way of life, some Amish folks also have a genetic ...
Building and coding your own video games with jellyfish DNA
[Engineer Helene Steiner] has developed a bio-pixel display that can play games such as Tetris, Snake or Pong using the ...
Gene drives: Nature editorial board calls out green groups for ‘unfair attempt to create damaging and polarizing spin’
[A]lthough it might not always be obvious, both critics and advocates of the technique — called a gene drive — tend to agree on ...
Skin color and ‘race’: Genetics reveal complicated relationship
For much of recorded history, skin color has been loaded with powerful social meaning. Skin color plays a major part ...
Could humans learn to love sex robots?
Kate Devlin says she does, occasionally, get a little weary of being pigeonholed as “that sex robot woman.” … “There’s ...
Should we accept the extinction of endangered species as just another part of evolution?
A recent opinion piece in the Washington Post from Dr. Robert Alexander Pyron has created quite the stir in the conservation and ...
DIY gene therapy? FDA is not a fan
A few biohackers (fans of do-it-yourself (DIY) science experiments) recently designed a gene therapy for HIV. Not only that, they posted a video ...
Era of unregulated stem cell therapies may be coming to an end
Is the Wild West of stem cell therapies coming to an end? Newly released guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggest ...
Exorbitant costs of gene therapy raise payment concerns for patients and government
[Editor's note: Executives from several companies developing gene therapies gathered for a panel discussion at the recent Forbes Healthcare Summit, ...
Migraine relief: First drug in 20 years that can prevent and cut in half length of attacks
A new migraine drug that can halve the length of attacks has been hailed as “the start of real change” ...
Genetics and eating: Why diets don’t work the same for everyone
New research from scientists at Texas A&M University found that a standard diet doesn’t work for everyone, in a study ...
Neuron by neuron: We often examine the brain too closely to see the big picture
[Rafael Yuste thinks neuroscientists have been looking at the brain too close. “It’s just like a TV screen—if you’re watching ...
Surrogate granted limited parental visitation rights by UK court, rejecting genetic connection
In the surrogacy world, one of the worst case scenarios for intended parents is that the surrogate will change her ...
Reexamining common genetics lesson: At least 49 genes contribute to earlobe attachment
A common, hands-on method for teaching genetics in grade school encourages students to compare their earlobes with those of their ...
Genomics AI tool: Google’s DeepVariant released as open source
A novel artificial intelligence tool that can accurately call out variants in sequencing data was released as open source on the ...
Turning night owls into early birds? It may soon be possible
The discovery of a genetic mutation linked to night owl behavior raises the prospect of a drug treatment that would ...