A special section of commentaries and reflections on epigenetic inheritance has been published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, centered on the reprint of the 1989 article “Inheritance of Acquired Epigenetic Variations” by Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb. ISG faculty members Aaron Panofsky and Hannah Landecker both contributed invited commentaries to the issue, which is now available in advance online…
Big data: It’s a term we read and hear about often, but is hard to grasp. Computer scientists at Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Engineering & Applied Science tackled some big data about an important protein and discovered its connection in human history as well as clues about its role in complex neurological diseases. Through a novel method…
Today, the journal Nature Genetics released a set of four papers based entirely on the genetic sequences of Icelanders. Their results, which range from the identification of a new Alzheimer’s-associated gene to the age of the most recent male ancestor shared by all humans, are part of a long history of genetic discoveries from deCODE, a company that has been…
Researchers at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, Columbia University and The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health are launching a first-of-its-kind study of the transgender population in the United States that they expect will create a more accurate and detailed picture of the issues faced by transgender individuals. The study, which is being led by Ilan Meyer, Williams…
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in a variety of consumer products, such as water bottles, dental composites and resins used to line metal food and beverage containers. Often, aquatic environments such as rivers and streams become reservoirs for contaminants, including BPA. Now, University of Missouri researchers and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists have determined that fish…
Whenever you read stories about identical twins separated at birth, they tend to follow the template set by the most remarkable of them all: the “two Jims”. James Springer and James Lewis were separated as one-month-olds, adopted by different families and reunited at age 39. When University of Minnesota psychologist Thomas Bouchard met them in 1979, he found, as a…