Scientists have discovered that the high pressure in the eye that occurs with most common forms of glaucoma can trigger two genes that work together to cause vision loss, which may help pave the way for new glaucoma drugs.
If genetics are not considered when translocating lions, their evolutionary line could be affected.
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History shows how scientists and the public tried to understand hereditary cancer risk well before we had the technology to discover mutations and test for genetic disorders.
The California two-spot octopus, Octopus bimaculoides, has distinctive blue ‘eye’ spots on either side of its head.
Roy Caldwell/UC Berkeley
What produces the differences between men and women? Are they trivial or profound? Are they genetic or environmental, or both? And are men really closer genetically to chimpanzees than to women?
Now that we know there’s a gene for intelligence, are we going to start breeding little Einsteins?
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Recent research out of the UK has identified a genetic “general academic achievement factor”. Does this pave the way for genetically testing babies for intelligence?
Family resemblance isn’t only down to genes, but also to the influence of the environment on those genes.
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Jeffrey Craig, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Epigenetics is increasingly used as a buzzword to sell pseudoscientific products, but the truth of epigenetics is even more interesting – and complex – than the quacks claim.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations prompted Angelina Jolie to have a preventative double mastectomy and surgery to remove both ovaries.
Sebastian Kahnert/AAP
The High Court challenge is the last resort for Ms D'Arcy’s test case against companies patenting human genes and has implications for patients, clinicians and researchers.
Epigenetic molecules play a different melody on different people’s genomes, and this might be contributing to some developing autism.
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Jeffrey Craig, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Anthony Hannan, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Yuk Jing Loke, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
The epigenetic ‘musicians’ that play our genomes in different ways might help us understand the causes of autism.
Gene therapy is allowing us to switch on natural beneficial mutations to counteract the effects of negative mutations in diseases such as sickle cell anaemia.
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford