John Travis

All Stories by John Travis

  1. Genetic Pickup: Did animals get brain genes from bacteria?

    Genes that make brain chemicals may have been acquired from bacteria.

  2. Got Milk? Dairy protein provides bone-forming boost

    A protein in milk stimulates bone-forming cells.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Cutting blood supply to kill off fat

    Killing the blood vessels that sustain fat tissue causes obese mice to lose weight.

  4. Worm life span set by chromosome tips

    For worms, longer chromosome tips mean longer lives.

  5. Breeds Apart: Purebred dogs defined by DNA differences

    The most thorough DNA analysis yet of purebred dogs suggests that canine breeds can also be discerned genetically with great accuracy.

  6. Earth

    Filtered air cuts down mutations

    Microscopic particles in the air may mutate the DNA of sperm.

  7. Two egg cells make fatherless mouse

    By fusing two egg cells, researchers have created a mouse with no father.

  8. Waste Not: Proteins suggest ways to thwart muscle loss

    Researchers have now revealed details of the biochemical signals that drive muscle atrophy.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Firms vie to treat genetic disease

    Successful treatment of Fabry's disease—a rare, fatal genetic condition—prompts a law suit.

  10. Milked enzyme thwarts muscle disorder

    Using an enzyme made in rabbit's milk, scientists have successfully treated a rare genetic disorder.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Killing immune cells thwarts arthritis

    Researchers have successfully treated people with rheumatoid arthritis by temporarily wiping out most of their antibody-producing immune cells.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Fetal cells pop up in mom’s thyroid

    A woman's thyroid gland contains male cells, suggesting that cells from her son passed into her when he was a fetus.