genetics

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Kitties Fight Crime With DNA
 Kitties Fight Crime With DNA 
Mar 22, 2010 4:50 PM CDT

Kitties Fight Crime With DNA

Ubiquitous cat hair a valuable forensic tool

(Newser) - Dog is man's best friend, but cats can fight crime. Thanks to their tendency to groom and shed, household cats carpet a home—and anyone who sets foot in it—with DNA evidence. Kitty forensics have already led to one murder conviction after hair from a victim's cat was found...

Scotland's Bad Weather Means More Redheads
 Scotland's Bad Weather 
 Means More Redheads 
a gem from Monday
Mar 13, 2010 10:23 AM CST

Scotland's Bad Weather Means More Redheads

Cloudier climes allowed trait to gain in population

(Newser) - The cooler, cloudier climes for northern Europe make for more redheads—particularly in Scotland and Ireland, a researcher says. About 8% of Scots sport a ginger mane, to less than 2% of all Europeans. The theory, Emily Pritchard tells the Times of London, is that genetic traits that allow sun-unfriendly...

No Sense of Direction? Blame Mom and Dad

Study sees a genetic link to poor navigation skills

(Newser) - People who are forever getting lost might be able to blame their genes, thanks to a new study that suggests a genetic link to having a lousy sense of direction. Researchers discovered that people with the rare condition known as Williams syndrome—caused by damage to a particular chromosome—have...

Study Casts Doubt On DNA-Matching Technique

Mitochondrial DNA found to vary widely within individuals

(Newser) - A DNA-matching technique used in forensics since the mid-1990s is now in question, according to new research. DNA found in cell structures called mitochondria varies greatly between samples from different tissues from the same individual, researchers found, meaning that forensic units may be mistaken when they exclude suspects because a...

Being Terrific Uncles Helps Gays Keep Genes Going
Being Terrific Uncles Helps Gays Keep Genes Going
STUDY SHOWS
Feb 7, 2010 2:02 PM CST

Being Terrific Uncles Helps Gays Keep Genes Going

Nieces, nephews then more likely to keep bloodline going

(Newser) - Gay men’s tendency to lavish love and attention on their nieces and nephews could be a key to keeping a “gay gene” alive, a study shows. Looking at male homosexuals in Samoa—where they’re considered their own gender, and therefore fully integrated into family life—scientists saw...

Migraines, Depression May Share Genetic Link

Findings reverse idea that headaches cause depression

(Newser) - Conventional wisdom holds that bad headaches lead to bad moods, but a new study points to a genetic link between the two. "Most people think that migraine patients are depressed because they have headaches," one researcher tells Time . "We found that there is a genetic predisposition by...

3 US Genetics Researchers Win Medicine Nobel

Work in replication of chromosomes may aid cancer treatment

(Newser) - Three American scientists won the Nobel Prize for Medicine today for their work on the replication of chromosomes, which has implications for cancer, aging, and stem cell research. The laureates focused on a string of DNA at the end of chromosomes, called telomeres, and discovered an enzyme that allows dividing...

Gym Rats Can Thank Their DNA
 Gym Rats Can Thank Their DNA 
Sep 7, 2009 4:49 AM CDT

Gym Rats Can Thank Their DNA

Desire to work out linked to genes, twin study suggests

(Newser) - People driven to pump iron or chill out on the sofa may differ as much in their DNA as they do in their activity levels, reports the Los Angeles Times. Scientists have discovered that identical twins are twice as likely to have similar workout habits as fraternal twins, indicating exercise...

Why Such Rage at Obesity? Start With 'Self-Loathing'

(Newser) - If so many people are fat in this country, why is there so much venom against the overweight? Part of it can be chalked up to "self-loathing," write Kate Dailey and Abby Ellin in Newsweek. We're conditioned to consider extra pounds unattractive, and we get ticked off when...

Is She a Man? Is Phelps a Fish?
 Is She a Man? 
 Is Phelps a Fish? 
OPINION
Aug 21, 2009 8:55 AM CDT

Is She a Man? Is Phelps a Fish?

(Newser) - It's wrong to be subjecting South African sprinter Caster Semenya to "a public slaying," writes Antonia Senior, who says that debating her gender has no more credibility than asking if "Michael Phelps is really a fish." For the Times of London columnist, sports are now "...

Obama's Health Czar Brings God Into Lab
Obama's Health Czar Brings
God Into Lab
OPINION
Jul 15, 2009 9:00 AM CDT

Obama's Health Czar Brings God Into Lab

Choice of geneticist a breakthrough for evangelicals: Gerson

(Newser) - Francis Collins, President Obama's nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, is a pioneering biologist who led the team that mapped the human genome. He's also an evangelical Christian—a rarity among scientists, only 7% of whom say they believe in God. For Michael Gerson of the Washington Post,...

Genetic Faults Link Manic Depression, Schizophrenia

Research slowly unravels genetic causes of mental illnesses

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered genetic variations that link schizophrenia to manic depression for the first time, the Independent reports. Research made possible by technical advances found that thousands of tiny genetic faults raised the risk of both mental illnesses, which had previously been believed to be completely distinct conditions. Experts hope...

Down Syndrome Gene Holds Cancer Clue

Downs patients long seen to have lower deadly tumor risk

(Newser) - Scientists have noticed for years that Down syndrome patients are far less likely to die from solid tumors—and now, scientists in Boston think they know why. Down syndrome patients’ extra chromosome holds a gene that helps cut blood flow to tumors, restricting their growth, the Globe reports. “Individuals...

Drug Offers Hope for Genetic Breast Cancer Sufferers

First-of-its-kind drug slows, stops tumor growth

(Newser) - A first-of-its-kind drug has been developed to fight genetic breast cancer, with an initial round of human trials showing “very promising” results, reports the Times of London. The drug Olaparib works by blocking a protein that makes cancer cells containing the genetic default unable to repair themselves. The drug...

Monkeys Pass Altered Traits to Offspring

Genetic breakthrough will aid disease study, but troubles some

(Newser) - Japanese scientists have produced the first genetically modified monkeys that can pass on their new traits to offspring, a research breakthrough mired in ethical quandaries. The technique is meant to be used to infect monkeys with diseases like Parkinson’s and then test treatments on them, but could eventually be...

Heart and Gum Disease Linked by Gene: Study

Periodontitis patients should cut out risk factors, scientists say

(Newser) - Scientists have identified a link between gum disease and heart disease, the BBC reports, finding the same genetic variation in a group of patients with heart disease and a group with severe periodontitis. “Now we know for sure that there is a strong genetic link, patients with periodontitis should...

'Happyhour' Gene Decides How Fast You Get Drunk

Cancer drug could be used to lower humans' alcohol tolerance

(Newser) - What if your genes determined how much of a tolerance you had to alcohol—and you could take a drug that would turn those genes on or off? That scenario may not be far from reality: researchers studying fruit flies have discovered a gene called "happyhour" that renders...

Scientists Find Gene That Triggers Menstruation

Scientists find genetic key that triggers when a girl gets her first period

(Newser) - Genetics appear to play a key role in the timing of a girl’s first period, the BBC reports. Researchers have discovered two genes that influence the onset of puberty in both sexes, adjacent to genes controlling height and weight. The findings are important because early menstruation can contribute to...

Kids May Inherit Parents' Joy
 Kids May Inherit Parents' Joy 
May 14, 2009 1:31 PM CDT

Kids May Inherit Parents' Joy

Life experiences could change the genes passed on

(Newser) - Kids with a sunny disposition may have inherited that attitude from happy parents, a scientist hypothesizes based on research showing that personal experiences can change the traits parents pass on to their kids. This could mean that parents’ pre-conception mental state influences the child, he contends. If that proves true,...

UK Unravels Genetics of Euro Swine Flu Strain

Better understanding of virus 'significant step' toward vaccine

(Newser) - Researchers in the UK have mapped the complete genetic fingerprint of the strain of H1N1 virus affecting Europe, bringing scientists a step closer to creating a vaccine, the BBC reports. By comparing the blueprint with genetic data from the North American strain, experts hope to better understand how the virus...

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