Winning government approval would be the first step in increasing public confidence in personalized genetic testing
genetic testing
Decoding Cancer: Scientists Release 520 Tumor Genomes from Pediatric Patients
Could the answer to cancer lie within our own DNA?
Why Genetic Tests Don’t Help Doctors Predict Your Risk of Disease
Your DNA may hold valuable information about your health, but current genetic tests can’t improve doctors’ ability to predict your risk of major disease.
The Healthland Podcast: Super Broccoli, Yo-Yo Dieting, and Why Toddlers Are Terrible
Welcome back! This week on the podcast: why dieters can’t seem to keep the weight off, a new breed of super broccoli that promises to lower your cholesterol, and research suggesting that kids’ aggression can be traced back to …
Do All Women Need Genetic Testing Before Pregnancy?
For two years, a bunch of medical geneticists in Maryland and New Jersey sifted through 1,000 different genetic mutations. They looked for cellular changes that are fatal and ones that are treatable. They argued. Eventually, they …
How Do You Parent When There’s No Tomorrow?
From the moment a pregnancy test turns up positive, you start thinking about the future. There are baby names to mull and nursery themes to choose and plenty of daydreaming about all the unknowns, including what in the world that …
The Healthland Podcast: Customizing Your Baby, Masturbation, and the Vaccine Wars
Welcome back! This week we debate the ethics of a blood test that can reveal your baby’s sex at just seven weeks of pregnancy. Also: a big new study on how masturbation affects sexual development. Finally, science editor Jeffrey …
Watch Out for the Cows. They Might Be Carrying a New Strain of MRSA
The medical news this week has been dominated by the possible carcinogenicity of cell phones and the virulent E. coli outbreak in Europe. But I hope your closet of fear isn’t full yet — I’ve got one more bit of medical worry to …
Genetic Testing for Kids: Is It a Good Idea?
With the advent of new genetic tests, it’s increasingly easy to gauge whether you’re predisposed to developing certain conditions — diabetes, say, or breast cancer. For adults, that knowledge can be simultaneously …