ISG Visiting Scholar, Melissa Hines, published the article, “Gonadal Hormone Influences on Human Neurobehavioral Development: Outcomes and Mechanisms” in the book Multiple Origins of Sex Differences in Brain edited by Donald Pfaff and Yves Christen. Abstract: Testosterone exposure during early development has enduring influences on mammalian behavior, increasing male-typical characteristics and decreasing female-typical characteristics. Research in non-human mammals indicates that…
ISG Faculty, Michael Alfaro, along with Francesco Santini, Laurie Sorenson, and Tina Marcroft published the paper “A Multilocus Molecular Phylogeny Of Boxfishes (Aracanidae, Ostraciidae; Tetraodontiformes)” in the January issue of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Abstract: Boxfishes (superfamily Ostracioidea, order Tetraodontiformes) are comprised of 37 species within the families Aracanidae (13 sp.) and Ostracidae (24 sp.). These species are characterized by…
Robert W. Sussman, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, says that science has struggled to understand the mysteries of “less-than-human” beings since the late 1400s when the Spanish Inquisition first formalized state persecution of Jews and Muslims. And while the horrors of Nazi Germany exposed fatal flaws in science’s quest to build the master race, the…
A new kind of testing is proving particularly helpful in diagnosing mysterious neurological illnesses in children. Scientists sequence all of a patient’s genes, systematically searching for disease-causing mutations. A few years ago, this sort of test was so difficult and expensive that it was generally only available to participants in research projects like those sponsored by the National Institutes of…
Cancer Voices Australia brought the case as it believed Myriad Genetics Inc, which owns the patent on the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 linked to breast and ovarian cancer had an unfair monopoly on a naturally occurring gene. It’s the first time the validity of genetic patents has been tested in an Australian court. Cancer Voices sought to void the genetic…
Biology, psychology and political science are rarely spoken of together. But according to a new study co-authored by Rose McDermott, professor of political science, the genetics of fear can exert a powerful influence on people’s political opinions, particularly those regarding out-groups. Published online last month in the American Journal of Political Science, her paper explores the correlation between hereditary and…