genome – News Stories About genome - Page 1

Shark That Can Live
400 Years Reveals Its Secret

NEW STUDY

Sep 24, 2024 1:58 PM CDT

Shark That Can Live 400 Years Reveals Its Secret

Greenland shark genome shows duplicated genes involved in DNA repair

(Newser) - The Greenland shark is the world's longest-living vertebrate, or animal with a backbone, capable of living a mind-bending 400 years. Now, with the mapping of the shark's genome, the biggest of any shark sequenced to date, researchers say they've unlocked potential secrets to the animal's longevity...

Blue Whales Carry Surprising
Levels of Another Species' DNA

NEW STUDY

Feb 9, 2024 9:42 AM CST

Blue Whales Carry Surprising Levels of Another Species' DNA

North Atlantic blue whales receiving fin whale DNA through mating with hybrid offspring

(Newser) - The blue whale population has started to recover from the devastation brought by commercial whaling in the early 20th century. But the world's largest ever animal isn't quite the same. In analyzing the genomes of Balaenoptera musculus musculus—the "most endangered" of four subspecies of blue whale,...

Bacterium That Causes Syphilis Has Been Around for Millennia

Scientists Find an Ancient
Syphilis Relative in Brazil

NEW STUDY

Jan 26, 2024 10:32 AM CST

Scientists Find an Ancient Syphilis Relative in Brazil

Research suggests the bacterium has been around for millennia

(Newser) - People who lived with painful mouth and skin sores on the south coast of Brazil some 2,000 years ago carried the oldest known evidence of a syphilis relative. Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis, is "one of the least well understood common bacterial infections," one expert...

With Locks of Hair, Scientists
Solve a Beethoven Mystery

With Locks of Hair, Scientists Solve a Beethoven Mystery

DNA indicates the contributing factors of the liver disease thought to have killed him

(Newser) - With one Ludwig van Beethoven mystery likely solved , it's on to another one: why he spent his life in so much pain. It's a quest that led scientists to sequence his genome in a search for answers as to what may have caused his hearing loss, days-long bouts...

This Is the Source of All Weed

NEW STUDY

Jul 20, 2021 11:49 AM CDT

This Is the Source of All Weed

Study suggests cannabis was first grown in northwest China

(Newser) - Humans have been growing cannabis for 12,000 years, according to new research claiming to pinpoint where the first crops were developed. Scientists writing in Science Advances add 82 whole genomes of cannabis plants to the 28 already sequenced, determining the first Cannabis sativa plant was likely domesticated not in...

2 Women Win Chemistry Nobel for 'Molecular Scissors'

2 Women Win Chemistry Nobel
for Tool With 'Enormous Power'

Oct 7, 2020 6:11 AM CDT

2 Women Win Chemistry Nobel for Tool With 'Enormous Power'

Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer A. Doudna claim prize for their genome editing method

(Newser) - French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a method of genome editing likened to "molecular scissors" that offer the promise of one day curing genetic diseases. The recipients were announced Wednesday in Stockholm by the Royal Swedish Academy...

Humans Mated With Mysterious Species Twice

Humans Mated Outside
Our Species 3 Times

NEW STUDY

Mar 16, 2018 9:31 AM CDT

Humans Mated Outside Our Species 3 Times

Second instance of human-Denisovan interbreeding discovered

(Newser) - Ancient humans weren't against knocking boots with other species: We know they had sex with Neanderthals . We also know they mated with the mysterious Denisovans, as some Australasians (those from Papua New Guinea in particular) have 5% Denisovan DNA. But a "breakthrough" study shows the interbreeding wasn't...

Canaanites Weren't Annihilated
by Ancient Israelites After All

NEW STUDY

Jul 28, 2017 9:11 AM CDT

Canaanites Weren't Annihilated by Ancient Israelites After All

Researchers say they lived on to become the ancestors of today's Lebanese

(Newser) - The Bible suggests the Canaanites were wiped out by the ancient Israelites, but a new study says otherwise, claiming the people survived and went on to be the ancestors of those who today live in Lebanon, ScienceDaily reports. Per a study in the American Journal of Human Genetics , researchers from...

This 'Super Food'
Could Feed
the Planet

This 'Super Food' Could Feed the Planet

Scientists unlock genome for foodie favorite quinoa

(Newser) - It has been hailed as a super food, a nutrient-packed , gluten-free dish that even carb counters can get behind. But could quinoa feed a hungry planet? That's the hope behind a new effort by scientists who've unlocked the humble grain's genome. "Quinoa has great potential to...

Morning Person
or Night Owl? Your
Genes May Decide

NEW STUDY

Feb 3, 2016 1:06 PM CST

Morning Person or Night Owl? Your Genes May Decide

Biology may be influencing if you stay up all night or wake up with the sun

(Newser) - You may be naturally disposed toward being a morning person or a night owl—and scientists are now saying that may have a true biological basis that's hard to fight, the Guardian reports. Per a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications , researchers under the direction of 23andMe lead scientist...

Scientist Tackles
'Last Major Disease
We Don't Know
Anything About'

Oct 18, 2015 10:35 AM CDT

Scientist Tackles 'Last Major Disease We Don't Know Anything About'

Whitney Dafoe no longer walks, talks, or eats, and is fed intravenously

(Newser) - Whitney Dafoe packed a lot in his first quarter-century of life. The son of renowned scientist Ronald Davis, the head of the Genome Technology Center at Stanford University, was an award-winning photographer who traveled the world and worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign. Now 31 and diagnosed with systemic exertion...

Study: DNA Test Can Predict Whether You're Gay

Oct 10, 2015 8:16 AM CDT

Study: DNA Test Can Predict Whether You're Gay

Potential for misuse troubles lead scientist, who's just left the lab

(Newser) - UCLA scientists think they've developed the first test that can accurately predict whether a man is gay based on his DNA, and all it takes is a swab of saliva, reports New Scientist . The researchers examined 400,000 epigenetic tags—"chemicals that latch onto DNA and help turn...

Test Can Detect Every Virus to Afflict Humans, Animals

STUDY SAYS

Sep 30, 2015 9:50 AM CDT

Test Can Detect Every Virus to Afflict Humans, Animals

Even uncommon viruses and ones present in low levels: scientists

(Newser) - A new test developed by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may prove an invaluable aid to doctors who can't figure out what's wrong with their patients. The test, described in a study in the Genome Research journal, is able to detect, all at...

Genome Reveals Secrets
of Last Mammoths

Genome Reveals Secrets of Last Mammoths

Low genetic variation perhaps led to decline on Wrangel Island

(Newser) - The last of the woolly mammoths in Siberia died out about 10,000 years ago, but a smaller number living on Wrangel Island, off the coast of what is now Russia, managed to stick around for another 6,000 years. Researchers set out to investigate the two groups and the...

Google's Big
New Project:
Autism Research

Dec 10, 2014 6:42 AM CST

Google's Big New Project: Autism Research

Company aids in sequencing thousands of genomes

(Newser) - To learn more about the genetics behind autism, researchers are planning to sequence the genomes of thousands of people—and they've enlisted a partner who knows a thing or two about sifting through scads of data. Using its Genomics tool, Google will host on its servers and index the...

Easter Islanders
Not as Isolated
as Thought

Oct 24, 2014 8:12 AM CDT

Easter Islanders Not as Isolated as Thought

Genetic data suggests travel to and from South America 20-plus generations ago

(Newser) - Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is such a remote speck of rock in the Pacific Ocean that it has been nicknamed "navel of the world." Yet a review of genetic data of 27 natives suggests the islanders made contact with outsiders hundreds of years before the first Europeans...

Sorry, Blood in Gourd
Isn't from Louis XVI

study says

Apr 25, 2014 10:06 AM CDT

Sorry, Blood in Gourd Isn't from Louis XVI

Researchers map out genome

(Newser) - A famous gourd was believed to contain the blood of Louis XVI after he was beheaded: It said as much in an inscription, and some research has appeared to confirm it. Now, however, experts have sequenced the blood's genome, and they're saying the opposite, the BBC reports. Their...

Peppers Might Get
Spicier Thanks to
Scientists

Mar 9, 2014 6:43 AM CDT

Peppers Might Get Spicier Thanks to Scientists

Researchers discover gene for capsaicin

(Newser) - Don't say science never did anything for you, spicy food lovers. Last week researchers published the full genome for the hot pepper (Capsicum annuum), a discovery that, according to LiveScience , could have a very practical application: even hotter peppers. The findings will "help breeders accelerate the research of...

Genetically, Dolphins
Are Like ... Bats?

Sep 5, 2013 1:04 PM CDT

Genetically, Dolphins Are Like ... Bats?

They have nearly 200 genomic regions in common

(Newser) - One is an adorable marine mammal. The other is a creepy flying rodent that inspires masked vigilantes. But it turns out that, deep down, dolphins and bats have a surprising amount in common. A new study has found that dolphin and bat genes are strikingly similar in nearly 200 genomic...

'Anonymous'
Online DNA Not
So Anonymous

study says

Jan 18, 2013 3:17 AM CST

'Anonymous' Online DNA Not So Anonymous

Surprised researchers raise privacy concerns

(Newser) - If your genetic data, or even a relative's, has made its way online—albeit posted anonymously—it's simple for researchers to uncover your identity. So simple it surprised the researchers themselves. All they needed to suss out a person's name, and the names of members of that...