Genetics, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 15, 2023

Australia's 'worst female serial killer' freed after her children's deadly gene mutations come to light

A woman in Australia who spent 20 years in prison after being convicted of killing her four children has been released after new DNA evidence showed that all of the children, who died as infants over a 10 year period, possessed genetic mutations that could explain their deaths. In her...

Jun 20, 2023

Mysterious 'Viking disease' linked to Neanderthal DNA

Neanderthal genes may be one cause of the disorder nicknamed the Viking disease, in which fingers become frozen in a bent position, a new study finds. The study, published June 14 in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, finds gene variants that were inherited from Neanderthals that dramatically increase the...

Jun 24, 2023

What is the maximum number of biological parents an organism can have?

Families come in all shapes and sizes, and not all parents are biologically related to their children. But most people do have two genetic parents, from whom they inherited their DNA. However, a very small number of people technically have three genetic parents, and depending on the definition of parent,...

Jun 30, 2023

Meet 'Fanzor,' the 1st CRISPR-like system found in complex life

Researchers have identified a new gene-editing system similar to CRISPR in complex organisms, demonstrating for the first time that DNA-modifying proteins exist across all kingdoms of life. Feng Zhang, a biochemist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, led the...

Jul 26, 2023

Gene-therapy drops restore teen's vision after genetic disease left his eyes clouded with scars

A boy was born with a rare genetic condition that caused scar tissue to build up in his eyes, rendering him legally blind — but now, a new gene therapy delivered via eyedrops has restored his vision, The Associated Press reported. The boy, Antonio Vento Carvajal, is now 14 years...

Aug 1, 2023

Siblings rapidly lost their body fat in infancy due to rare, newly described gene mutation

In their first few months of life, two siblings rapidly lost most of their body fat. Now, doctors have found the cause: a DNA mutation never previously linked to their underlying disease. According to a report of the cases, published July 12 in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology, the siblings...

Aug 3, 2023

Scientists 'remote-controlled' designer human cells implanted in mice using only DC currents

The gene activity of designer human cells can be remotely toggled on and off with electric currents, a new study in mice shows. In a study published July 31 in the journal Nature Metabolism, direct current (DC) from off-the-shelf consumer batteries triggered the release of insulin from genetically engineered human...

Aug 10, 2023

Nearly 170 genes determine hair, skin and eye color, CRISPR study reveals

Human skin, hair, and eyes come in a huge variety of colors, but until now, scientists have only known a fraction of the genetic diversity driving this variation. Now, new research finds many dozens of genes that may produce this broad diversity. In a genome-wide screening, researchers pinpointed 169 genes...

Aug 23, 2023

The human Y chromosome has finally been fully sequenced, 20 years after the 1st draft

Scientists have finally filled the gaps in the sequence of the human Y chromosome, 20 years after the first draft of its DNA code was published. The work reveals a complete catalog of the genes in the male sex chromosome — the last human chromosome to be fully sequenced —...

Oct 4, 2023

Going vegetarian? The dietary choice may be influenced by your genes.

Being vegetarian may be (partly) in your genes, a new study suggests. By analyzing the genomes of more than 335,000 people and using questionnaires to assess their meat intake, scientists have identified one point in the human genome — rs72884519 on chromosome 18 — that is significantly associated with following...

Oct 10, 2023

Neanderthal DNA may shape how sensitive you are to pain, genetic analysis shows

Neanderthal gene variants may boost the pain sensitivity of people who carry them and may be most common in populations with prevalent Native American ancestry, a new study finds. The research, published Tuesday (Oct. 10) in the journal Communications Biology, focused on three versions of the SCN9A gene, which codes...

Oct 26, 2023

Endometriosis and gut disorders have a genetic link

Scientists have identified a genetic link between endometriosis and several digestive disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Endometriosis, which affects roughly 1 in 10 reproductive-age women, is caused by the growth of tissue that resembles the lining of the uterus in other parts of the body, such as the fallopian...

Nov 6, 2023

Do redheads really need more anesthesia?

You may have heard that, from the dental chair to the labor-and-delivery room, things hurt worse for redheads. But do redheads really experience pain differently than other people? Anecdotal reports from anesthesiologists and various animal and human studies suggest that having red hair is associated with an altered sensitivity to...

Nov 24, 2023

Genetic risks behind 'cannabis use disorder' found in huge study

Scientists have pinpointed gene variants tied to the risk of developing cannabis use disorder, in which people build up tolerance to weed and struggle to cut back despite negative impacts on their life and health. The disorder has formal diagnostic criteria in the manual for mental health disorders. But roughly,...

Nov 29, 2023

188 new types of CRISPR revealed by algorithm

Scientists have unearthed 188 previously unknown types of CRISPR systems buried in the genomes of simple microorganisms. Best known as a powerful gene-editing tool, CRISPR actually comes from an inbuilt defense system found in bacteria and simple microbes called archaea. CRISPR systems include pairs of molecular scissors called Cas enzymes,...