Until now, analysis of the environment has been the domain of social scientists, who have elaborated the correlations between environment and health or behaviour — for example, that a deprived upbringing increases the risk of deviant behaviours in adulthood. Now, biologists are starting to render visible how one aspect of the environment — stress — leaves marks on the body…
A new company called Art.sy has built an art reference system called the Art Genome Project that allows web-users to discover new art based on their rated preferences. It is for art what companies like Pandora and Spotify are for music. NYTimes has the story
A new IVF technique being debated in England uses three genetic parents to create an embryo. This procedure helps avoid possible mitochondrial disease, but some caution that it’s too soon to take such a radical new approach. Rueters has the story , HuffPost Live has a video
ISG faculty Dr. Hannah Landecker wrote an essay for “Hidden Treasure“, a book that reveals over 400 never-before seen treasures from the National Library of Medicine. The book was edited by Michael Sappol and published in March 2012. Description of the Book: Founded 175 years ago, the National Library of Medicine is the world’s largest medical library, with more than 17…
ISG Faculty Joan Silk recently published “Stability Of Partner Choice Among Female Baboons” in the journal of Animal Behavior, June 2012. Abstract: In a wide range of taxa, including baboons, close social bonds seem to help animals cope with stress and enhance long-term reproductive success and longevity. Current evidence suggests that female baboons may benefit from establishing and maintaining highly…
ISG Faculty Janet Sinsheimer recently published “Rooting Gene Trees without Outgroups: EP Rooting” in the journal of Genome Biology and Evolution, May 2012. Abstract: Gene sequences are routinely used to determine the topologies of unrooted phylogenetic trees, but many of the most important questions in evolution require knowing both the topologies and the roots of trees. However, general algorithms for calculating rooted trees from…