Genetics, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2012

How Does Cloning Work?

Cloning may invoke an image of an army of identical cows or sheep churned out factory-style, but in actuality, the process is much more laborious. The term cloning generally applies to a process more technically known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. What that means is that the DNA from the...

Mar 31, 2012

Specific Genes Linked to Big Brains and Intelligence

Brain size and smarts are, to some extent, genetic — and now, a team of more than 200 researchers has uncovered specific genes that are linked to both brain volume and IQ. Though scientists have suggested bigger brains are smarter, this study is the strongest case yet for a genetic...

Mar 31, 2012

Super-Fast DNA Analysis Now Just a Click Away

Tomorrow's personalized medicine — health care tailored for each person — will need a cheap, easy way to make sense of huge amounts of DNA sequences. Now the world's largest genomics institute has launched an online service that can crunch DNA sequencing data within hours for researchers or physicians around...

Nov 30, 2013

Is Eating DNA Safe? (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Eating DNA sounds scary but it’s completely safe. I do it every day. Let me explain. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. The words “acid” and “nucleic” are in the name...

May 31, 2013

Epigenetics: Definition & Examples

Epigenetics literally means above or on top of genetics. It refers to external modifications to DNA that turn genes on or off. These modifications do not change the DNA sequence, but instead, they affect how cells read genes. Examples of epigenetics Epigenetic changes alter the physical structure of DNA. One...

Apr 30, 2013

'Junk' DNA Mystery Solved: It's Not Needed

One person's trash may be another person's treasure, but sometimes, trash is just trash. So-called junk DNA, the vast majority of the genome that doesn't code for proteins, really isn't needed for a healthy organism, according to new research. At least for a plant, junk DNA really is just junk...

Feb 28, 2013

Normal Brain Activity Linked to DNA Damage

Brain activity from experiences as common as exploring new locations surprisingly damages the noggin's DNA, hinting that such disruptions may be a key part of thinking, learning and memory, researchers say. This damage normally heals rapidly, but abnormal proteins seen in Alzheimer's disease can increase this damage further, perhaps overwhelming...

Jan 31, 2013

Genetics: The Study of Heredity

A chart shows the dominant and recessive traits inherited in successive generations of guinea pigs. (Image credit: Public domain)Genetics is the study of how heritable traits are transmitted from parents to offspring. Humans have long observed that traits tend to be similar in families. It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century...

Dec 31, 2012

Big Tobacco: Geneticists Create a Plant That Can't Stop Growing

In the comedy Little Shop of Horrors, a carnivorous plant named Audrey Jr. grew nonstop by feasting on unsuspecting human beings. In a somewhat more benign development, researchers in Germany have developed tobacco plants that also can't stop growing. Under normal conditions, the tobacco plant has a rather uninspiring lifespan....

May 31, 2015

Should You Take Out a Perfectly Good Prostate?

Dr. David Samadi is chairman of urology and chief of robotic surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, and a board-certified urologist and oncologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, urologic diseases, kidney cancer and bladder cancer. He developed the Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique...

Apr 30, 2015

Your Personal Microbes Can Single You Out

The bustling communities of microbes in and on your body are unique to you — so much so that they might be used to identify you from a crowd of hundreds of other people, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed information from more than 200 people who had samples taken...

Mar 31, 2015

Oldest Neanderthal DNA Found in Italian Skeleton

The calcite-encrusted skeleton of an ancient human, still embedded in rock deep inside a cave in Italy, has yielded the oldest Neanderthal DNA ever found. These molecules, which could be up to 170,000 years old, could one day help yield the most complete picture yet of Neanderthal life, researchers say....

Dec 31, 2014

Cholera Bacteria Spear Their Prey to Grab Genes

The bacteria that cause cholera grab genes from other organisms in a particularly predatory way, new research finds. The microbes spear neighboring cells with a kind of poison-tipped spike. Bacteria often grab genes from other organisms and incorporate that DNA into their own genomes. But researchers at the Swiss Federal...

Jul 31, 2016

3 Human Chimeras That Already Exist

The news that researchers want to create human-animal chimeras has generated controversy recently and may conjure up ideas about Frankenstein-ish experiments. But chimeras aren't always man-made — and there are a number of examples of human chimeras that already exist. A chimera is essentially a single organism that's made up...

Jul 31, 2016

World's 1st Plague Pandemic Bacteria Gets New Genetic Analysis

With a single tooth from an ancient human skeleton found in Germany, scientists have now created the most complete genetic picture yet of the bacteria that caused the world's first plague pandemic. The Justinianic Plague killed 50 million people from the sixth to eighth centuries, and was caused by the...