Category: Genetics
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How Modern Technology is Improving Health Care (Genome and Algorithms)
Genome Testing According to an article that rates this year’s medical advances according to their importance, at the top of the list is a new Ebola vaccine that is expected to be available later this year. Genome-based testing, which has the potential to increase the speed and flexibility of clinical trials for life-saving experimental treatments,…
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My Dog Speaks To Me With His Eyes – Evolution of Human/Dog Bonds
Puppy love – same as baby love? Yes, it seems so: “My dog talks to me with his/her eyes”- every dog owner on the planet says this. Now, for the first time, it seems that this well-known truth has a scientific basis. A group of Japanese researchers found that dogs indeed talk to us, in…
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Bacon Fans United: The Pig Genome Sequenced
Breeding healthier and meatier piggies has been one of the many scientific challenges of the past decades; creating more reliable models to study human diseases is another. The swine disease model is indeed much better to use when studying human disorders than the (thus far) widely used murine models. Although pigs reproduce slower than mice…
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How Have Marsupials Evolved?
The phylogenetic relationships between two orders of marsupials have been intesively debated. Authors benefited from recent sequencing projects which provided two marsupial genomes: this of the South American opossum (Monodelphis domestica) and the one of a kangaroo, the Australian tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii). Retroposons are suitable and homoplasy-free markers: their insertion sites are random; parallel…
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The evolution of human mortality
How long until we live forever? The general consensus is that we are getting older and living longer. Despite consequences and kryptonite, it is getting easier to stay alive. Heaven can wait, it seems. Every year each baby born is expected to live 3 months longer than its predecessor of the previous year. This has…
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Weekly Science Picks
Sigh, my photo caption sums it all up… But here are the news stories that caught my eye and I hope you find them interesting as well. Maybe reading them will inspire your own work or to dig deeper for answers. In any case, enjoy! This is one of my favorite topics because it…
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The Devil’s Technology
Biotechnology is rarely considered to be good for the environment. In fact, environmental campaigners frequently claim that genetically modified organisms represent a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. However, the study of the Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour disease (DFTD) using genetic technologies is an example where biotechnology has been used to create a definite environmental…
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The clues to human uniqueness
Over 2 million years ago, before the emergence of the genus Homo, within the rift valleys and savannah grasslands of Africa during the Pliocene period, a unique event took place. One that, with some hyperbole, admittedly, shaped the course of human evolution. The event was on a molecular scale but had its bearings on what…
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The EMBO Meeting 2012 – Call for Participation
EARLY REGISTRATION & ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: 12 JUNE 2012 ON-LINE REGISTRATION: 4 SEPTEMBER 2012 UPDATE: Late abstract deadline 12 August 14:00 CEST (Berlin) SUBMIT ABSTRACT | REGISTER http://www.the-embo-meeting.org/ This annual conference attracts 1,500 scientists working in the life sciences. Featuring an impressive line-up of more than 120 world-class scientific…
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How Much is that Green Algae in the Window?
Whoever thought you could make money in biology, right? Turns out, there is quite a bit of money to be made in this field. And I think we are realizing more than ever the importance of the life sciences and the contribution it offers to society and the economy. “I think the biggest innovations of…