Some day, leaving a hair at a crime scene could be as damning as leaving a photograph of your face. Researchers have developed a computer program that can create a crude three-dimensional (3D) model of a face from a DNA sample.
Continue reading… “Mugshots created from DNA evidence”
Technique lets children avoid inheriting certain diseases – and give them genes from another woman besides mom.
Last week, the U.K. government issued proposed regulations that would allow researchers to try a new and controversial in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in patients. The technique could allow women who are carriers of mitochondrial disease to have healthy, genetically related children. But it also transfers DNA from one egg or embryo into another, a form of genetic alteration that could be passed on to future generations. Altering the genes of human egg cells or embryos in IVF procedures is now forbidden in the United Kingdom.
Continue reading… “UK government proposes regulations on making ‘three-parent embryos’”
In vitro fertilization (IVF)—involving DNA from three parents—could become legal in the UK by July.
The prospect of altering DNA to produce a genetically-modified human could move from science fiction to science reality by the middle of 2014. The UK parliament is likely to vote on whether a new form of in vitro fertilization (IVF)—involving DNA from three parents—becomes legally available to couples by July. If it passes, the law would be the first to allow pre-birth human-DNA modification, and another door to the future will open.
Continue reading… “Altering DNA to produce a genetically-modified human could begin in 2014”
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/82227865[/vimeo]
Scientists in China have used jellyfish DNA to create glow-in-the-dark piglets. A technique developed by the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Medicine allows the ten piglets to glow green under black fluorescent lights.
Continue reading… “Glow-in-the-dark pigs created using jellyfish DNA”
This year’s ideas are based on the fact that everything will learn.
IBM reveals its five big innovation predictions that will change our lives within five years. This is the eighth year now that IBM has made predictions about technology, and this year’s prognostications are sure to get people talking.
Continue reading… “IBM unveils top 5 technology predictions for the next 5 years”
Genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages.
A secret second code hiding within DNA which instructs cells on how genes are controlled has been discovered by scientists. The amazing discovery is expected to open new doors to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, according to a new study.
Continue reading… “Secret code discovered in human DNA”
Synthetic biology is about making DNA from scratch.
What if you could turn a bread machine into your personal pharmacy? Or fill your gas tank with fuel made from grass clippings? Or light your home with glowing houseplants? While radical in concept, these ideas are startlingly practical and already in the works.
Continue reading… “Synthetic biology holds global promise and perils”
Study raises more questions about the health benefits of vitamins.
A new Biology Letters paper raises more questions about the benefits of vitamins as a health supplement. High doses of dietary antioxidants such as vitamins are claimed to slow the process of cellular aging by lessening the damage to proteins, lipids and DNA caused by free radicals. Some research has found that the longevity of mice could be extended by administering particular vitamin supplements, despite the supplements’ limited effectiveness in reducing free radical damage. However, the opposite was found to be true in voles in a new study.
Continue reading… “The negative effects of vitamins: Study”
The research effort will attempt to design a vaccine conferring immunity to nicotine, using nanotechnology.
At Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, Yung Chang and her colleagues have launched an ambitious new project designed to attack nicotine dependence in a radically new way.
Continue reading… “A nanotechnology fix for nicotine dependence”
The debate started in late 2011, when Chen-Yu Zhang’s team f found bits of rice RNA floating in the bloodstreams of Chinese men and women.
Last week, freelance journalist Virginia Hughes wrote about a scientific paper that was published in the elite journal Nature in 1995. The findings of said paper were called into question by several other papers in different journals within a couple of years. As of today, nearly two decades since the original came out, nobody has replicated it. And yet, it’s still sitting there in the literature, still influencing others. It’s been cited nearly 1,000 times.
Continue reading… “Science might have gotten it wrong. Now what?”
Three-person IVF could eliminate debilitating and potentially fatal mitochondrial diseases that are passed on from mother to child.
The UK is set to become the first country to allow the creation of babies using DNA from three people, after the government backed the IVF technique.
Continue reading… “UK government to allow three-person IVF”
As doctors and scientists continue to make huge leaps in terms of genome sequencing and scanning devices, everything about your medical treatment is going to change.
There are approximately 7 billion human beings on Earth and each of us is special and unique. We are the walking, talking instantiation of the 3 billion instances of four nucleotides (abbreviated GATC) that constitute our unique genome’s DNA. Just as important, the interplay of that DNA with the environment and our individual lifestyles determines our susceptibility and predisposition to diseases.
Continue reading… “The future of medicine is wearable, implantable, and personalized”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.