genetics news stories on Newser

Oxford Scholars Search for Yeti

Matt Cantor — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:47:05 CDT

The search for the yeti is going high-tech. Thanks to genetic analysis, Oxford researchers hope to say for sure whether the creature of lore exists, Gizmodo reports. Working in conjunction with the Lausanne Museum of Zoology, researchers are asking people who claim to have evidence of the yeti to send...

Islanders' Blond Hair Is Genetic Quirk

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:50:08 CDT

A peculiar pairing of dark skin and blond hair in the native population of the Solomon Islands is due to a unique gene and not, as previously thought, the intermingling of Europeans with the inhabitants, finds a new study. About 5 to 10% of the indigenous peoples on the islands...

Autism Tied to Gene Mutations for First Time

Kate Schwartz — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:26:48 CDT

Big autism news: A number of gene mutations linked to the disease have been uncovered for the first time, announced a number of scientists in three papers published yesterday. The sobering detail: These particular mutations are super rare, and are responsible for only a very small number of autism cases....

Scientists Find 'PTSD Gene'

Kevin Spak — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:21:22 CDT

UCLA researchers think they've found a genetic link to post-traumatic stress disorder. The team studied survivors of a devastating 1988 earthquake in Armenia, which killed 25,000 people, and found that those with a specific pair of genetic variations that has previously been linked to depression were more likely to...

Climate Change Solution: Rebuild Human Beings

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:18:57 CDT

Frustrated by the lack of progress in fighting climate change? Researchers suggest we should consider re-engineering human beings rather than trying to reverse climate change directly, LiveScience reports. "We might not be entirely serious that people should be doing this," says Anders Sandberg, an author of a study coming out...

Men Not Going Extinct After All

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:45:54 CST

Relax, guys. It's no longer certain at all that you'll be extinct in 100,000 years, as one genetics professor predicted. Another scientist had decided that the all-important (to men) Y chromosome was losing genes at a rate that would make it non-existent in some 5 million years, and could...

Santorum Opposes Prenatal Tests

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:16:34 CST

Amniocentesis for pregnant women? Forget it, says Rick Santorum. Such prenatal testing only results in more abortions, the candidate says. Santorum reiterated views he first expressed over the weekend in Ohio, where he ripped President Obama's support of insurance coverage of the test "because it ends up in more abortions"...

Atheist Richard Dawkins: Slavery Profiteer?

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:38:32 CST

Renowned atheist Richard Dawkins fired back at the Telegraph today after the paper accused him of profiting—albeit indirectly—from slavery, the Guardian reports. The Telegraph 's article notes that Dawkins' great great great great great grandfather, Henry Dawkins, owned 1,013 Jamaican slaves before he died in 1744. Dawkins...

Why Do More Men Get Heart Disease? Blame Dad

Kevin Spak — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:36:58 CST

Men represent about two-thirds of heart disease sufferers, and a new study offers a possible hint as to why—men with a certain genetic ancestry were 50% more likely to be afflicted. The study analyzed 3,233 white UK men and examined their male Y chromosomes, which are passed down...