I find it very interesting that today’s big news has to do with why only humans have the capacity for language. First found in a vocally-impaired family, scientists discovered a large gene they named “TOSPEAK” that may explain how humans are the only primates to develop language.
Interesting I say because effective today, Genetics and Health will be retired, and in a nostalgic way, this is my last time “to-speak”.
Even then, the field of genetics has never been so exciting as these times. Genetics has spread into the language of cancer, HIV/AIDS, behavior/psychological issues from smoking to addictions, from autism to …read more

Tracing back family trees and genetic histories can be quite an experience. Some of us have probably fantasized about being related to some ancient royalty or well-known personality. Or maybe you wondered where you got that blazing red hair but not your cousin’s true-blue eyes.
I had quite a small discovery when my mother drew our family tree some years back. We found distant relations to the wife of a national hero, and though it sounds shallow, that’s become a source of family pride. Ha-ha, indulge me. But other than this, and a possibility that we may have come from …read more

deCODE genetics in Iceland has announced the launch of deCODE MI(TM), a reference laboratory test for variations in the genome (called SNPs) that the company has associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction, or heart attack.
The SNPs are located on chromosome 9 and were discovered by deCODE earlier this year. As described in the journal Science in July, deCODE scientists found that people who carry two copies of these variants are at double the risk of suffering an early heart attack — before the age of 50 in men and 60 in women — than are those who do not …read more

The recent Tour de France drug violations show further evidence that sport is rife with illegal drug taking to enhance performance and achieve that ‘extra mile’.  There are mega bucks at stake alongside the dream of become a World and Olympic champion.  I imagine that if you’ve invested your entire life to your chosen sport the lure of taking banned performance enhancing drugs to help you achieve your dreams is with you night and day.
The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) in Montreal, Canada is charged with monitoring the conduct of athletes.  It is working with investigators around the globe to develop a test that would ’out’ …read more

Amit Varma of India Uncut found a curious article discussing a “scientific” horoscope based on genes and chromosomes for separating high and low milk yielding cows. Not surprisingly, he was unimpressed.
A horoscope “prepared on the basis of genes and chromosomes”? Whatever happened to the fricking stars? [Blogger looks up, blogger sees ceiling, fan needs cleaning, blogger looks down.] This is a paradigm shift, and I’m reeling (and no wonder that was foretold too).

Somebody forgot to look up the definition of “horoscope.”
Technorati Tags: genes, genetics, dna, chromosomes, cows, india, milk

If genetic enhancement were freely available and many disease genes identified and understood, how many people would choose to go for it? Not everyone and not PinkFluffySlippers at Cello, Et Cetera:
If I could do some DNA surgery on myself and remove the bipolar genes, I probably wouldn’t want to do it, as I believe it’s tied up with high intelligence and creativity. Thanks for the mixed blessing there, Universe.

Non-scientists often don’t get enough credit for grasping the basic concepts of genetics. Common sense goes a long way too even without formal education. Sam at or so she says clearly understands that the nature vs. nurture debate is moot.
All right. I am neither a biologist nor a sociologist. I have not studied the debate (and it is raging) between nature v. nurture to any great extent. But I have a feeling that the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes–that we are born with certain biological tendencies (ex. babies instinctively begin to absorb language, cry when they …read more

Bryan Appleyard at Thought Experiments writes of Terrorists, Genes and Metaphors:
…The worst case of an uncontrolled metaphor was Richard Dawkins’ ’selfish gene’. No gene can be selfish nor can even appear to be acting selfishly, the word is quite meaningless. (For a full analysis of the damage done by this metaphor and its entirely unscientific basis, read Denis Noble’s superb book The Music of Life: Biology beyond the Genome.) Yet people drew political and social conclusions – which, in fairness, Dawkins did not – from this rather dodgy metaphor. The same thing is happening now with terrorism. Metaphors are falling …read more

This week’s Gene Talk from Seldo.com brings up the hot-button topic of genetic determinism. Laurie said:
Are our lives just the emergent behaviour of the interactions of our genes with our environment? Is our free will an illusion, no more free than a drop of water is free to choose the random path it takes down a windshield—unpredictable, but with an inevitable result?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Check out the heated discussion we had in April.
This essay by Professor Patricia S. Greenspan also addresses the issue: Free Will and Genetic Determinism. (Brings back memories of the year-long series of …read more

Everyone’s trying this YouTube business (including Tris at Homely Scientist) and I wanted to get in on the fun too. So I found this little video on DNA replication. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: genetics, genes, dna, dna replication, youtube, science