Genetics & Molecular Biology

Did God Short-Change Us On Genes?

Via Pharyngula, some non-scientist MD thinks that ~21,000 protein-coding genes aren't nearly enough to make a human (which of course then means that evolution is wrong): 4) The Human Genome Project showed that only 1-2% of Human DNA codes for proteins ...

Article - Michael White - Jan 27 2009 - 11:06pm

First Gene Discovered For Most Common Epilepsy

An international team of researchers  has uncovered the first gene linked to the most common type of epilepsy, called Rolandic epilepsy. One out of every five children with epilepsy is diagnosed with this form, which is associated with seizures starting in ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 28 2009 - 10:29pm

Mendel's Garden is up at Quintessence of Dust

Steve over as Quintessence of Dust has prepared an excellent edition of Mendel's Garden. Read about how to know when you're being overcharged for personalized genetic testing, how to tell whether your child will have red hair, how two white paren ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Feb 3 2009 - 10:30am

Cloning is awesome....right?

I feel like I found this article with near-perfect timing, considering that I am starting a unit on genetics in my Biology classes.  To recap: sadly, after scientists seemed to have successfully created a hybrid clone of an extinct goat (they had preserved ...

Blog Post - Mrs. H. - Feb 3 2009 - 10:20pm

Black Wolves- Man's First Experiment With Genetic Modification

Emergence of black-colored wolves is the direct result of humans raising dogs as pets and beasts of burden, according to new research by a University of Calgary biologist in Science. The dark coloring may also aid the survival of the species as wolf habita ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 23 2012 - 11:42pm

Gene Regulatory Circuit Discovered For First Tooth, Say Researchers

A common gene regulatory circuit controls the development of all dentitions, from the first teeth in the throats of jawless fishes that lived half a billion years ago to the incisors and molars of modern vertebrates (that includes you and me), say research ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 10 2009 - 1:03pm

ISCO And The Power Of Parthenotes

I am a firm believer in the possibility and promise of embryonic stem cells. In a politically, religiously and even scientifically charged climate, this is a risky thing to announce. But as a journalist, I must divorce myself from my own personal opinions ...

Article - Erin Richards - Feb 14 2009 - 10:49am

Mitosis?! What about your-tosis?!

Man, I love it when scientists discover and publish things on a schedule that matches my state-mandated curriculum!  It really makes my job a lot easier.  (Also, the joke in the title line is a super-lame joke that my students tend to make when we get to t ...

Blog Post - Mrs. H. - Feb 12 2009 - 6:43pm

Transposons- Jumping Genes In Regulatory Networks

Research performed in the Center for Biomolecular Science&Engineering (CBSE) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, suggests that mobile repetitive elements--also known as transposons or "jumping genes"--do indeed affect the evolution o ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 14 2009 - 8:42am

Neanderthal Genome Gets A First Draft

Neandertals were the closest relatives of currently living humans. They lived in Europe and parts of Asia until they became extinct about 30,000 years ago. For more than a hundred years, paleontologists and anthropologists have been striving to uncover the ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 15 2009 - 10:43am