How do scientists figure out when evolutionary events – like species splitting away from a common ancestor – happened? It turns out our DNA is a kind of molecular clock, keeping time via genetic changes.
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Articles on Genome
Displaying 141 - 160 of 191 articles
How can the same basic genome produce such different forms in the two sexes of a single species? It turns out one gene can encode for various things, depending on the order its instructions are read.
Diabetes, which afflicts 29 million people in the U.S., remains a difficult disease to treat. Read how an algorithm devised by MIT researchers could help.
Neanderthals had a very varied diet based on what foods were available to them where they lived. They also knew what to eat when they were sick.
A new report from the National Academies of Science and Medicine outlines conditions that have to be met before gene editing that results in heritable genomic changes can be considered.
Genomes can reveal a lot about disease risk. But people need to think carefully about what they want to know.
Scientists have sequenced the seahorse’s genome and found the genes that could explain male pregnancy.
Every single Cavendish banana plant worldwide is genetically identical. This vast monoculture sets them up for disastrous disease outbreaks. But researchers have ideas on how to protect the crop.
The answer – fewer than are in a banana – has implications for the study of human health and raises questions about what generates complexity anyway.
Our knowledge of diseases is growing exponentially, but turning knowledge into cures is proving to be a tricky business.
A new study shows that by using genomics, you can cut down the lengthy process of testing for drug-resistance TB to a matter of days.
Understanding how the flu virus copies itself could open a way to killing it.
It seems like a no brainer to edit out genetic disease…until we pause to consider what would be lost.
The movie Gattaca’s warnings about using advances in genetics for eugenics proved wide of the mark. It’s time people woke up to this.
How has a retrovirus survived intact within the human genome for millennia, and how has it affected us?
Scientists used to think that the 98% of human DNA that didn’t encode proteins was junk. They don’t think that anymore.
Many of the genes and transcripts associated with schizophrenia are only found in humans, which makes studying the disorder difficult. But scientists are slowly making progress.
The biology and ethics of gene editing, explained by scientists.
Modern biological research relies on big data analytics. Vast reservoirs of memory and powerful computing ability mean machines find patterns and make meta-analyses and even predictions for scientists.
Personalised medicine is based on the idea that by understanding the specific molecular code of a person’s disease, and particularly its genetic makeup, we can more accurately tailor treatment.
Top contributors
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Distinguished Research Professor, Emerita, Dalhousie University
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Emeritus Robert Reford Professor and Professor of Medicine, McGill University
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Thomas Merritt is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laurentian University
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Director of Research and Professor of Pathology, Dalhousie University
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Vanier Scholar and Ph.D. Candidate in Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University
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Junior Fellow, MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance; Medical Student, Dalhousie University
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Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Lethbridge
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Professor of Medicine and Vice President, Research, McMaster University
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Associate Professor of Genetic epidemiology & Bioinformatics, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
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Professor in Medicine, Ethics and Society, University of Warwick
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Doctoral Student in Biochemistry, University of Washington
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Research Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, University of Saskatchewan
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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Assistant Professor/Canada Research Chair in emerging viruses, University of Manitoba
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Reader in Genetics, University of Aberdeen
