Screening millions of healthy people for their risk of disease can be cost-effective. But it raises ethical and regulatory concerns.
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Yeast isn’t just important for the foods we consume. A rogue lineage of yeast species that evolves faster than any other is revealing secrets that may help illuminate the molecular causes of cancer.
A 3D recreation of a recently discovered Neanderthal tooth.
Joshua Lindal
A Neanderthal tooth was discovered in Serbia. This finding helps to fill gaps in the human fossil record of this important geographical region.
Experts have called for a moratorium on clinical research with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.
of the germline — that is changing heritable DNA in sperm, eggs or embryos to make genetically modified children.
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CRISPR gene editing should learn from the Slow Food movement. Scientists must allow time for critical conversations and perfecting of techniques before rewriting the source code of humanity.
Rare diseases aren’t, in fact, all that rare. Yet they continue to be brushed aside by most politicians. Why?
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While negotiating the end of the First World War at the Versailles Peace Conference, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson collapsed. Was it a neurological disorder associated with the Spanish Flu?
Scientists edge closer to truly personalised medicine thanks to advances in genome sequencing.
Indigenous Australians must be involved in research around provenance and country. Here, representatives of the Willandra Aboriginal Elders visit the Griffith University ancient DNA laboratory.
Renee Chapman
Museums around the world hold remains of Aboriginal people that were often taken without permission and in the absence of accurate records. New DNA methods may help return these items to country.
Bacteriophage viruses infecting bacterial cells , Bacterial viruses.
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Chinese researcher, Jainkui He claims to have created the world’s first genome-edited twins. Such action would pose unknown risks to the lives of these children and to humanity as a whole.
‘Amphy’ has features of both simple and more complex forms of life – and so can help us understand important steps in evolution.
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With the onset of cooler temperatures and shorter days, some insects pack-up and migrate to warmer climates. Others, including stink bugs, take up residence in our homes.
Some forms of obesity severely disrupt the metabolic pathways that keep us healthy.
Farik gallery, MarShot / Shutterstock.com / Evans Love
Body mass index is often used to gauge health. But there may be more accurate measures. A report on your blood metabolites, your metabolome, may distinguish healthier-obese from sicker-obese.
Cane toads are on the march, but new genetic research could slow them down.
Michael Linnenbach
New genetic knowledge about cane toads could give us the knowledge we need to throw some more roadblocks in front of this persistent invader as it marches across Australia.
Oophaga andresii is one of the newly described species of Harlequin poison frog.
Jose Andrés
With their jewel-like colours, Colombia’s poison frogs are coveted by collectors. Does naming their species help protect them or make them a target for trophy hunters?
You’ve heard of the genome, and possibly the proteome – all the proteins in the human body. But have you heard about the glycome – the collection of sugars – that may hold the key to diagnosing disease?