2,458 results
2,458 results for: mutations
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- Anthropology
Evolution persisted in agricultural era
Natural selection has continued to propagate survival-enhancing gene variants in human populations over the past 10,000 years, according to a new genetic analysis.
- Health & Medicine
Defect Detector: Plugging holes in a breast cancer–gene screen
A genetic test not available in the United States catches many potentially cancer-causing BRCA-gene mutations not detected by the sole U.S. test.
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Mutation blocks fat absorption
A newly discovered gene in zebrafish seems to prevent the animals from absorbing fat molecules from their diets.
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Fatherless Stem Cells: Scientific fraud involved an accidental advance
Stem cells that discredited researcher Woo Suk Hwang claimed as the first example of human cloning actually came from embryos that contained only the mother's genetic material.
- Health & Medicine
Anti-inflammatory prevents pancreatic cancer in mice
An anti-inflammatory drug of the COX-2 inhibitor family blocks precancerous lesions in mice prone to pancreatic cancer.
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Protein Lineages: Randomness was crucial to ancient genetic changes
Reconstruction of an ancient protein shows how seemingly unimportant mutations paved the way for its evolution into a molecule with an essential modern role.
- Health & Medicine
When antioxidants go bad
Overproduction of antioxidants, usually thought to be beneficial, is the cause of an inherited heart disease.
- Humans
BPA induces sterility in roundworms
Bisphenol A does a real number on the genes responsible for successful reproduction in a 1-millimeter-long soil-dwelling roundworm. And that suggests BPA might pose similar risks to people because geneticists are finding that this tiny critter can be a remarkably useful “lab rat” — predicting impacts in mammals, including us.
- Earth
Stature’s heightened risk of cancer
My daughter is always shopping for 4-inch heels or other elevating footwear to make her appear taller. But a new study suggests that diminutive stature has at least one major perk: a lower risk of cancer.
- Animals
Lost to history: The “churk”
More than a half-century ago, researchers at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center outside Washington, D.C., engaged in some creative barnyard breeding. Their goal was the development of fatherless turkeys — virgin hens that would reproduce via parthenogenesis. Along the way, and ostensibly quite by accident, an interim stage of this work resulted in a rooster-fathered hybrid that the scientists termed a churk.
- Science & Society
The gene patenting decision from a plaintiff’s point of view
Plaintiffs in Myriad case win an overwhelming victory, but some details remain a bit fuzzy.
