Tag: DNA
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Genetic screening will empower families
If you could know, from the day you were born, your risk of developing certain diseases, would you want to?
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Gambling a life for a life: lose one or gain two?
Millie Chambers finds that a saviour sibling is not as immoral an idea as you she first thought.
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How brain cells repair their DNA reveals “hot spots” of aging and disease
The brain is the organ responsible for our personality, consciousness and ability to process our surrounding environment. It, quite simply, makes us who we are. Unfortunately, as we age it is not solely our body that begins to fail us, but our mind responsible for our identity also deteriorates. However, the process behind this deterioration…
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Caffeine reveals role of epigenetics in anti-fungal resistance
Annually, an estimated 1 billion people suffer from critical fungal infections, with 1.6 million deaths. The impact of fungal diseases, however, is much greater. 16% of crops lost globally result from microbial diseases, with up to 80% of these caused by fungi. Additionally, agricultural animals are severely affected, resulting in low yields and early deaths.…
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Secrets of the water bear
Tardigrades (also known as water bears or moss piglets) are among the most resilient animals on the planet. They are termed “extremotolerant”, as while they are not true extremophiles – organisms, usually unicellular, which are adapted to thrive in extreme conditions – these incredible micro-animals are found in the most intense conditions our planet has…
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Blood iron emerges as a potential key to anti-ageing
Growing old may be an inevitable part of our lives, but can we overcome the wrinkles and debilitating age-related diseases? What is the secret behind why some people spring into old age with energy and good health? According to science, some key answers could lie in your DNA. New research published in Nature Communications has…
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The ABCs of Life on Earth
Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Edinburgh, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, and the Polish Academy of Science, have challenged the popular RNA World hypothesis regarding the origin of life on Earth. The work, published in Nature, supports a mixed RNA/DNA model which could…
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Once Upon a DNA
Omar Shabana explores the ins and outs of the information in our DNA, and how we use it. 26 Million. That’s the number of alleged DNA testing kits to be sold by the 4 biggest genetic-testing companies by the end of 2018. These companies have had a very successful marketing strategy: a promise to show…
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The Perils and Possibilities of CRISPR Whispering
In November 2018 a controversial public announcement was published on YouTube by He Jiankui, a biophysics researcher at the Shenzhen University of Technology, China. He and his team had carried out a gene editing experiment on selected human embryos, and subsequently delivered them through IVF (in vitro fertilisation). They had produced the first human genetically…
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Bacteria may be travelling through the air to share DNA
A research group has discovered that bacteria in remote, isolated regions share some stretches of DNA and are suggesting that this is due to bacteria travelling through the air. Human understanding of how bacteria travels across the globe has changed a lot in recent decades. It was originally assumed that bacteria are transported on humans and…