2,460 results
2,460 results for: mutations
- Health & Medicine
Low Radiation Hurts Bystander Cells
New research confirms that alpha particles from decaying radon atoms can damage neighboring cells they don't directly hit and suggests a mechanism for this so-called bystander effect.
- Health & Medicine
Broken Weapon: Mutation disarms HIV-fighting gene
A gene that once produced a small protein able to prevent HIV from infecting cells now lies unusable in the human genome.
- Health & Medicine
Gene Therapy for Sickle-Cell Disease?
By adding a useful gene to offset the effects of a faulty one, scientists have devised a gene therapy that prevents sickle-cell anemia in mice.
- Health & Medicine
Boost in protein repair extends fly lives
In warmer-than-normal conditions, fruit flies that overproduce a protein-repair enzyme live about one-third longer than typical flies.
- Health & Medicine
Genetic Culprit: Mutation increases risk for uterine fibroids
Analysis of DNA from families whose women have been beset by uterine growths reveals a mutation that can predispose women to these so-called fibroids.
- Anthropology
DNA Diaspora: Humanity may share tangled genetic roots
A controversial new genetic analysis concludes that Homo sapiens evolved by expanding out of Africa in multiple waves beginning at least 600,000 years ago and then interbreeding, rather than totally replacing close relatives such as the Neandertals.
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When brains wring colors from words
Brain-scan data indicate that one type of synesthesia, in which people involuntarily see vivid colors while listening to spoken words, is more like a color hallucination than an attempt to imagine colors.
- Animals
Leave It to Evolution: Duplicated gene aids odd monkey diet
A duplicated gene that has rapidly evolved helps certain monkey species thrive on a diet of leaves.
- Health & Medicine
Gene mutation tied to lung cancer
Scientists have identified a gene, dubbed LKB1/STK11, that is often mutated in people with a particularly deadly form of lung cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Risk Factor: Genetic defect hikes breast cancer threat
A mutation already linked to several types of cancer doubles the risk of breast cancer in a woman and multiplies men's slight risk of the disease even more dramatically.
- Health & Medicine
Deadly Pickup: Enzyme permits plague germ to ride in fleas
Acquisition of a gene that enables the plague bacterium to live inside blood-sucking fleas may have set the stage for the Black Death.
- Health & Medicine
Surgical Option: Removal of ovaries can prevent cancers in women at risk
In women who harbor mutations in one of the BRCA genes, ovary removal reduces the risk of developing ovarian, peritoneal, and breast cancers.
