How Severe Maternal Inflammation Can Lead to Autism-like Behavior
In 2010, a large study in Denmark found that women who suffered an infection severe enough to require hospitalization while pregnant were much more likely to have a child with…
genetics
Dog Domestication May Have Increased Harmful Genetic Changes, UCLA Biologists Report
The domestication of dogs may have inadvertently caused harmful genetic changes, a UCLA-led study suggests. Domesticating dogs from gray wolves more than 15,000 years ago involved artificial selection and inbreeding,…
Epigenetics: How Social Behavior Can Be Reprogrammed In Ants…And Possibly Humans, Too
While many believe behavior is largely defined by genetic makeup and environmental factors, new research suggests certain drugs can have a life-altering, permanent influence over an individual’s character. The study, out…
Scientists Sequence First Ancient Irish Human Genomes
A team of geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen’s University Belfast has sequenced the first genomes from ancient Irish humans, and the information buried within is already…
Researchers Identify Intelligence Gene Networks
A group of scientists led by Imperial College London researcher Michael Johnson has identified two ‘gene networks’ associated with human cognitive abilities. “We know that genetics plays a major role…
Biologists are Engineering Kill Switches for GM Microbes
To keep old trains running, operators had to keep a firm grip on a dead man’s switch. If the operator became incapacitated or, well, dead, his hand would loosen, the…