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DNA analysis reveals fungus behind white-nose bat syndrome is likely from Europe

New research by Daniel Lindner, a research plant pathologist at the U.S. Forest Service’s Center for Forest Mycology Research in Madison and colleague Andrew Minnis might help shed some light on the white-nose syndrome and the devastating effects its had on bat populations across the eastern United States. Minnis and Lindner analyzed the DNA of the fungus behind white-nose syndrome and found that…

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Genetic study looks for clues to origin of Indian caste system

Article Excerpt:Research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics shows that the mixing of different cultural groups in India occurred between 4,200 and 1,900 years ago but started to decline as people began marrying only within their social castes, a much more recent development. Still, this means modern-day Indians share connections to all the groups that intermarried in the distant past.…

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MIT scientists plant false memory in mouse’s mind

Excerpt: In a mind-control experiment that demonstrates the astonishing power of new neuroscience tools, MIT researchers planted a false memory in the mind of a mouse using genetic techniques that allow them to trigger specific brain cells with light. The scientists were able to make the mouse recall something that had never occurred—having its foot painfully zapped when in the…

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Genetic screening: Every newborn a patient

ISG faculty Dr. Stefan Timmermans describes how “giving parents a torrent of information about a child’s genetic disease risk will profoundly change the experience of bringing a new life into the world”.   He writes, “Opening up newborn screening for genetics has mostly been viewed as an issue of technological capacity: Is the technology sufficiently fast and reliable to make…

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