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.
Genetics
Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Treating Hemophilia
Despite the vast promise of the genetic revolution in medicine, the fact remains that the hype has far outpaced the reality. Experiments with gene therapy, for instance, in which a new or corrected version of missing or damaged …
Encoding Secret Messages in Invisible Bacterial Ink
What kid hasn’t fantasized about sending secret coded messages in invisible ink? Now a team of researchers from Tufts University has developed just such an encryption method using genetically engineered strains of E. coli bacteria.
High Blood Pressure Genes Identified
Like many medical conditions, high blood pressure is the result of some combination of environmental risk factors — like lack of exercise, smoking and obesity — and genes. Now an international research consortium publishing …
Next on CSI: Using Saliva to Tell a Person’s Age
If you’re a fan of CSI, you know that dead men don’t tell lies. Not even about their age.
It’s a Match: How Officials Used DNA to Identify bin Laden
The Obama Administration used several methods, including DNA testing, to confirm that U.S. Navy Seals did in fact kill Osama bin Laden in a weekend raid in Pakistan, U.S. officials said on Monday.
Elizabeth Taylor’s Killer Beauty
Elizabeth Taylor wasn’t one for understatement: she had eight marriages, won two Oscars and was a bold pioneer in AIDS activism. And let’s not forget those captivating violet eyes. Now, according to Slate’s Brow Beat blog, …
How Being a Jerk Shortens Your Life
Beware jocks and mean girls: you may be more popular in high school, but according to a new academic paper, it is the smart kids and conscientious glee-club types who will live longer. Not only that, they will suffer fewer …
DNA Tests of Disabled Kids Uncover Evidence of Incest
Advances in genetic testing allow doctors unprecedented access to our DNA. But sometimes these tests reveal disturbing information that doctors weren’t looking for.
New Way to Investigate Crime: A DNA Test for Hair Color
Never mind what the sleuths on CSI would have you believe, finding DNA at the scene of a crime can sometimes be a dead end. Your genome may readily reveal your susceptibility to certain diseases or even the consistency of your …
Study: You Are What Your Dad Ate
Imagine if you bequeathed your children not just your genetic material, but also the consequences of your own eating habits. A study published on Dec. 23 in the journal Cell demonstrates that your diet can indeed make a …
Why Surgeons Dread Redheads
As the authors of a recent study published in BMJ attest, society’s red-haired members don’t always get a fair shake.
Never Mind the Tea Party. Can a ‘Liberal Gene’ Make You a Party Animal?
Politics aren’t just a matter of personal choice or parental influence — they’re something you’re born with.