A news report recently informed readers that the reason children from poorer backgrounds struggle is due to genetic “inherited abilities”. According to the article, a new Productivity Commission report…
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Articles on Genetics
Displaying 501 - 520 of 653 articles
Our genetic material is encoded in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA is famous. But you may also have also heard of RNA (ribonucleic acid). So, what is RNA, and what is it good for? Quite a lot really…
When scientists first decided to sequence the human genome, it seemed an impossibly large and complicated challenge. A decade since achieving this aim, scientists are faced with a similarly overwhelming…
The front-page of The Times carried a story today that William could be “Britain’s first king to have proven Indian ancestry”. The story continues inside, along with an advert for the personal DNA testing…
An ancestor of Prince William’s from the 19th century was half Indian, according to The Times. This claim is based on analysis of his distant cousins’ DNA. We have such technology today, but how comfortable…
Australian researchers have uncovered the mechanism by which a rare genetic mutation causes premature deafness in people in their early twenties, paving the way for early detection for this type of hearing…
Melanomas may be less common than other skin cancers but their ability to become malignant and spread to other parts of the body makes them some of the deadliest if not caught early. More than 10,000 people…
Our series, Animals in Research, profiles the top organisms used for science experimentation. Here, we look at a species familiar to most: Mus musculus, or the mouse. Mice have been close companions of…
In Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, a group of our ape-like ancestors encounter a towering black rectangle somewhere in an African desert. Something in them changes. A seed is sown. Everything…
“DNA is your blood in you, we can use DNA as evidence if someone’s been stabbed. We can run tests in suspects.” (Girl, 12, central Queensland) “DNA has to do with blood types and fingerprints, it helps…
The skin and bones of long-dead tigers from the days of the British Raj have helped reveal how the latest threat to the endangered species is their own DNA. Taking DNA samples from game hunters’ trophies…
In our lab we have a phone that rings several times a day. The conversation is always the same. A man from somewhere in the UK is desperate to know the answer to one question: “Am I a Viking?” An answer…
Genetic secrets of the culturally prominent lotus plant have been unlocked by researchers from University of Adelaide. A…
A leading molecular biologist and her children are visiting Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, but it’s 2053 now and things are slightly different. “Will there be chickens at the Easter Show?” asks Emily, the…
DNA extracted from prehistoric human skeletons has been used to reconstruct the first detailed genetic history of modern…
Are you a mutant? Am I? The advent of personal genomics makes this question less like a Marvel Comics story idea than it did in the past. But, as Spiderman’s uncle Ben might have put it: with great power…
With world population exceeding seven billion, there is renewed interest in the limits to growth concept first articulated by the Club of Rome in the 1970s. How can a growing population with growing affluence…
There’s a very confusing exchange in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass: “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more…
As many as 21 species of giant squid live and die under the surface of our oceans. At least, that’s what we thought. A paper published today by my colleagues and I in Proceedings of the Royal Society B…
A controversy at last: most of our DNA is junk, no it isn’t, yes it is. Actually, I think it is – up to 90% really is junk. Last year The Conversation published an article with an exciting headline: Human…
Top contributors
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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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Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Quality and Professor of Molecular Biology, UNSW Sydney
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Postdoctoral researcher in genetics, University of Leicester
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Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London
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Professor in Medical Sciences, Deakin University
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Head, Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
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Professor of Biogerontology, University of Brighton
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Matthew Flinders Professor of Biodiversity Genomics, Flinders University
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Emeritus Robert Reford Professor and Professor of Medicine, McGill University
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Director of Bruce Lefroy Centre for Genetic Health Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
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Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University
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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
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Emeritus Professor of Animal Genetics, University of Sydney
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Assistant Professor in Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore
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Thomas Merritt is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laurentian University
