WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists studying a family plagued by early-in-life Alzheimer’s found some carry a genetic oddity that delays their initial symptoms by five years. The finding points to novel ways of fighting the mind-robbing disease – if researchers can unravel how a single copy of that very rare gene variant offers at least a […]
Living in a semi-arid region, the African turquoise killifish has developed a handy biological hack to survive months-long droughts that parch its muddy ponds each year. The developing embryos of these thumb-long fish just stop growing – not long after their brain and heart begin to form. For months, they hang out in a state […]
By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) – Twelve breast cancer genes identified in women of African ancestry in a large study published on Monday may one day help better predict their risk for the disease and highlights potential risk differences from women of European descent. Studies to identify genetic mutations linked with breast cancer have previously mainly […]
Papua New Guineans, who have been genetically isolated for millennia, carry unique genes that helped them fight off infection — and some of those genes come from our extinct human cousins, the Denisovans. The research also found that highlanders and lowlanders evolved different mutations to help them adapt to their wildly different environments. “New Guineans […]
Alzheimer’s disease may be inherited more often than previously known, according to a new study that paints a clearer picture of a gene long known to be linked to the common form of dementia. Authors of the study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, say this might even be considered a distinct, inherited form […]
Within the last century, researchers’ understanding of genetics has undergone a profound transformation. Genes, regions of DNA that are largely responsible for our physical characteristics, were considered unchanging under the original model of genetics pioneered by biologist Gregor Mendel in 1865. That is, genes were thought to be largely unaffected by a person’s environment. The […]
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea The sperm of older rats differs from that of younger rats in ways that may affect embryo development, according to recently published research. Sperm carries not only genes, but also instructions that determine which genes will be turned on or off […]
Many people are wired to seek and respond to rewards. Your brain interprets food as rewarding when you are hungry and water as rewarding when you are thirsty. But addictive substances like alcohol and drugs of abuse can overwhelm the natural reward pathways in your brain, resulting in intolerable cravings and reduced impulse control. A […]
The Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, and life less than a billion years after that. Although life as we know it is dependent on four major macromolecules – DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids – only one is thought to have been present at the beginning of life: RNA. It is no surprise that RNA […]