Category Archives: News & Archives

Gene editing of human embryos in UK reveals new fertility clue

The DNA of human embryos has been altered and studied for the first time in the UK, offering new insight into the early stages of human development. Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, a medical research center, have identified the role of a key gene that controls how embryos form during the first few days…

Reconstructing how Neanderthals grew, based on an El Sidrón child

How did Neanderthals grow? Does modern man develop in the same way as Homo neanderthalensis did? How does the size of the brain affect the development of the body? A study led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) researcher, Antonio Rosas, has studied the fossil remains of a Neanderthal child's skeleton in order to establish whether…

The Everglades have always been hit by hurricanes. Thanks to climate change, Irma could be a different matter.

As residents of the Southeast are returning home and assessing the damage left by Hurricane Irma, Florida scientists are anxiously waiting to evaluate the storm’s impact on one of the state’s most valuable — and vulnerable — ecosystems: the Everglades. Already threatened by the continuous progression of sea-level rise — which pumps damaging salt water into…

A.I. Can Produce Images of Your Face Using Only Genetic Data

What if a computer could generate a realistic image of your face using only your genetic information? That's precisely the technology researchers at Human Longevity, a San-Diego based company with the world's largest genomic database, claim to have developed. The team, led by genome-sequencing pioneer Craig Venter, reported their findings in a controversial paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National…

How a Blue Pill Is Stopping the Spread of HIV

Kyle, a 29-year-old Sydneysider, never knew a time when HIV wasn’t a persistent and pernicious threat — until he began popping a pill to prevent it. The blue, oval-shaped antiviral tablet, known as Truvada, that Kyle takes daily is the subject of a study in Australia’s New South Wales state that, in less than a…

The Greeks really do have near-mythical origins, ancient DNA reveals

Ever since the days of Homer, Greeks have long idealized their Mycenaean “ancestors” in epic poems and classic tragedies that glorify the exploits of Odysseus, King Agamemnon, and other heroes who went in and out of favor with the Greek gods. Although these Mycenaeans were fictitious, scholars have debated whether today’s Greeks descend from the…

Scientists Precisely Edit DNA In Human Embryos To Fix A Disease Gene

Scientists have been tinkering with the DNA in humans and other living things for decades. But one thing has long been considered off-limits: modifying human DNA in any way that could be passed down for generations. Now, an international team of scientists reports they have, for the first time, figured out a way to successfully edit the…

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found that stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus govern how fast aging occurs in the body. The finding, made in mice, could lead to new strategies for warding off age-related diseases and extending lifespan. The paper was published online today in Nature. The hypothalamus was known to regulate…

Potentially lethal parasite rat lungworm found throughout Florida

University of Florida researchers have found rat lungworm, a parasitic nematode that can cause meningitis in humans and animals, in five Florida counties. Rats and snails in Alachua, Leon, St. Johns, Orange and Hillsborough counties tested positive for the parasite, according to a study in PLoS ONE by researchers in the UF College of Veterinary Medicine and…

In saliva, clues to a ‘ghost’ species of ancient human

In saliva, scientists have found hints that a "ghost" species of archaic humans may have contributed genetic material to ancestors of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa today. The research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that sexual rendezvous between different archaic human species may not have been unusual. Past studies have concluded that…