Genetics news

Why can't chimps speak? Study links evolution of single gene to human capacity for language

Why can't chimps speak? Study links evolution of single gene to human capacity for language

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created 14 hours ago | popularity 4.2 / 5 (11) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- If humans are genetically related to chimps, why did our brains develop the innate ability for language and speech while theirs did not?


Longevity tied to genes that preserve tips of chromosomes

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created 9 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

A team led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has found a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres - the tip ends ...


Deepening the search  for clues to rheumatoid arthritis

Deepening the search for clues to rheumatoid arthritis

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- The gnawing pain of rheumatoid arthritis is a signal that the body’s immune system has hit the wrong target: its own cartilage and bone.


curly hair

Single gene may cause curly hair

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Australia have identified a single gene that strongly influences whether you have curly or straight hair.


Now hear this: Mouse study sheds light on hearing loss in older adults

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Becoming "hard of hearing" is a standard but unfortunate part of aging: A syndrome called age-related hearing loss affects about 40 percent of people over 65 in the United States, and will afflict an estimated ...


Developmental delay could stem from nicotinic receptor deletion

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 08, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

The loss of a gene through deletion of genetic material on chromosome 15 is associated with significant abnormalities in learning and behavior, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report ...


Study shows neural stem cells in mice affected by gene associated with longevity

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A gene associated with longevity in roundworms and humans has been shown to affect the function of stem cells that generate new neurons in the adult brain, according to researchers at the Stanford University ...


Researchers Discover Mutations in Two Genes that Cause Early-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team including researchers with the National Institutes of Health has discovered that mutations in either of two related genes cause a severe and rare form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) ...


Sight gone, but not necessarily lost? Researchers find life in blood-starved retinas

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Like all tissues in the body, the eye needs a healthy blood supply to function properly. Poorly developed blood vessels can lead to visual impairment or even blindness. While many of the molecules involved in guiding the ...


Study surprise yields new target for assessing genes linked to autism

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have uncovered a new genetic signature that correlates strongly with autism and which doesn't involve changes to the DNA sequence itself. Rather, the changes are in the way the ...


Singapore scientists describe novel method for 3-D whole genome mapping research

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In this week's Nature, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) scientists report a technological advance in the study of gene expression and regulation in the genome's three-dimensional folding and looping state through the de ...


Scientists launch effort to sequence the DNA of 10,000 vertebrates

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists have an ambitious new strategy for untangling the evolutionary history of humans and their biological relatives: Create a genetic menagerie made of the DNA of more than 10,000 vertebrate species. The plan, proposed ...


Genes that drive you to drink (but don't make you an alcoholic)

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Your genetic make up may predispose you to drink more but may not increase your genetic risk for alcoholism (alcohol dependence). Research published in the open access journal, BMC Biology, pinpoints genetic pathways and ge ...


Testicular tumors may explain why some diseases are more common in children of older fathers

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 25, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0

A rare form of testicular tumour has provided scientists with new insights into how genetic changes (mutations) arise in our children. The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Danish Cancer Society, could explain ...


What drives our genes? Researchers map the first complete human epigenome

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 0

Although the human genome sequence faithfully lists (almost) every single DNA base of the roughly 3 billion bases that make up a human genome, it doesn't tell biologists much about how its function is regulated. Now, researchers ...