A company called Poo Prints claims Dallas and other cities can find irresponsible dog owners by lab testing feces. The company sells $29.95 DNA kits that come with a swab to take an oral sample from a pet that is then recorded in a world pet registry. Poo Prints sells $49.95 testing kits to sample dog waste, which can be matched…
Robert Cook-Deegan (Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA) and colleagues explain that whole genome analysis has the potential to significantly improve medical care if utilized correctly, but say that interpreting variants of unknown significance can prove challenging. Private genetic databases run by companies, such as Myriad Genetics in the USA, contain important information that may be vital to interpreting such variants, but…
Excerpt: “Gender equality has been more of a national focus than usual in the United States over the past few months, thanks to the 2012 presidential election. But how does the United States stack up against other countries when it comes to said gender equality? According to the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report, released on October 23rd by the World Economic Forum,…
Dr. Belinda Martineau is the Principal Editor at the UC Davis Genome Center. In an excerpt from the article, Martineau states: “Once scientists have told the truth, warts and all (and genetic engineering has its share of warts), society as a whole must decide how to use and control the technology based on that science. Controlling technology, Feynman said, “is something not…
Excerpt: Colman Chadam, an 11-year-old California boy, has been ordered to transfer from his current school to another one miles away because of his genetic makeup. Now, his parents are taking the issue to court. Colman carries the genetic mutations for cystic fibrosis, a noncontagious but incurable and life-threatening disease. Despite the gene’s presence, the Jordan Middle School student in Palo…
Our national “obesity epidemic” is spawning disease, shortening life spans and bankrupting our health care system. Or is it? Could our negative attitudes about fatness-a disease that people bring upon themselves through sloth and gluttony-be more hazardous to our mental and physical well being than excess weight? Huffington Post covers the full story