The Human Dynasty

(Albert Einstein College of Medicine) A study on genetic variation led by a scientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University was selected by Nature as one of 15 “evolutionary gems” of the past decade.

(Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine feels that the social networking website, Facebook, would be well-advised to review its policy banning photographs of breastfeeding mothers.

Evolutionary biology tells us that replaying life’s tape will not not look at all like the original. The outcome of evolution is contingent on everything that came before. Now, scientists have turned back the clock on the evolution in the fruit fly to provide key insights into the basic mechanisms of evolution.

(Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia) Evolutionary biology tells us that replaying life’s tape will not not look at all like the original. The outcome of evolution is contingent on everything that came before. Now, scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia in Portugal, New York University and the University of California, Irvine, provide the first quantitative genetic evidence of why this is so.

Genes talk to themselves and to each other to control how a given cell manufactures proteins. But variation in the control of the same gene in two different tissues may contribute to certain human traits, including the likelihood of getting a disease, said a team of geneticists and neuroscientists.

Videos chart old supernova remnant, give 3-D perspective

A two-legged molecular machine that is designed to walk unaided along a single strand of DNA could soon carry cargo and may one day deliver drugs inside cells

Scientists have discovered a new way for bacteria to transfer toxic genes to unrelated bacterial species, a finding that raises the unsettling possibility that bacterial swapping of toxins and other disease-aiding factors may be more common than previously imagined.

(Cell Press) New evidence in mice bolsters the notion that a version of a gene earlier shown to protect lean people against weight gain and insulin resistance can have the opposite effect in those who eat a high-fat diet and are heavier, reveals a report in the Jan. 7 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.

(Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) Dedicated to the memory and scientific accomplishments of Dr. Judah Folkman, who pioneered the fields of angiogenesis and vasculogenesis and shed light on the link between blood supply and neoplastic disease, the newly released special double issue (Vol. 6, No. 3-4) of Lymphatic Research and Biology includes a series of papers that reflect the research impact of one of the pre-eminent physician-scientists of his generation. Lymphatic Research and Biology is a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc.