Genetics & Molecular Biology

Human-Animal Chimeras: From Mythology To Biotechnology

Blurring boundaries High up on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean in southern California, strange animals scurry about in their cages. They eat, drink, copulate and occasionally try to run away from human hands that enter their confined quarters. If ...

Article - Lee Silver - Sep 1 2010 - 12:04am

Population Genetics, Evolution And Why Some Foods Taste Bad

Scientific studies of why foods such as Brussels sprouts and stout beer are horribly bitter-tasting to some people but palatable to others are shedding light on a number of questions, from the mechanisms of natural selection to understanding how our genes ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 16 2007 - 4:54pm

Finding The Climate Key Genetically

  A University of Queensland microbiologist is part of an international team that has identified a bacterial gene that may affect climate and weather.   Dr Phil Bond, from UQ's Advanced Wastewater Management Centre, and his former colleagues at the U ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 17 2007 - 4:50pm

New Bird, Bat Species Revealed By Extensive DNA Barcode Studies

At unprecedented levels of difficulty involving highly biodiverse and continent-sized landscapes, scientists have successfully tested their ability to identify and DNA "barcode" entire assemblages of species-- the prelude to a genetic portrait o ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 19 2007 - 1:41am

The Social Life Of Honeybees Coordinated By A Single Gene

Students of the evolution of social behavior got a big boost with the publication of the newly sequenced honeybee genome in October 2006. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) belongs to the rarified cadre of insects that pool resources, divide tasks, and communi ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 6 2007 - 12:36am

Organic Farming Practices Cause 200 Instances Of Serious Food Poisoning

CORRECTION:  Charles Margulis-- who works with the so-called Center for Food Safety, an organic food lobbying group-- has called my attention to the fact that 200 people were made seriously ill (rather than dead) from eating manure-contaminated fresh spin ...

Article - Lee Silver - Feb 23 2012 - 11:43pm

How Jack Bauer On "24" Does So Well Without Sleep- It May Be His Clock Gene

Could you survive a day like Jack Bauer has on the Fox television show "24?" Maybe not, and it might not be just because you lack counter-terrorism training. People are known to differ markedly in their response to sleep deprivation, but the biol ...

Article - News Staff - May 27 2011 - 10:41am

Triplex Assay Used To Assay Duplex Genomic DNA

Direct detection of base sequence in duplex nucleic acid has long been an unfulfilled objective. Ingeneus Research will publish "Heteropolymeric Triplex-Based Genomic Assay® to Detect Pathogens or Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Human Genomic Samp ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 20 2007 - 10:21pm

Were Thomas Jefferson's Ancestors Muslim?

DNA testing carried out by University of Leicester geneticists and funded by The Wellcome Trust has thrown new light on the ancestry of one of the USA’s most revered figures, the third President, Thomas Jefferson. Almost 10 years ago, the University of Le ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 28 2007 - 2:07pm

Clues To Gene Expression In Cystic Fibrosis Will Guide Research

Genetics tests could help provide cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with targeted treatment in future, pilot study authors suggest. Results from a French clinical trial published today in BMC Medicine show how a small percentage of CF sufferers with a rare ge ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 28 2007 - 11:12pm