Diverse perspectives on science and medicine
Members of a three-generation family in France who suffer from widespread infections and fragile skin, joints, bones, and blood vessels share an underlying and unexpected immune system glitch, according to a new report in Science
After reading Christina Adams’s new book Camel Crazy: A Quest for Miracles in the Mysterious World of Camels (New World Library), I may have a new favorite animal (sorry, cats and hippos). Most of us know
On Monday November 5, officials at the FDA listened for three hours to arguments for and against “fecal microbiota transplants” – mostly for. Speakers reported that the procedure has saved thousands of lives. The technique
Anyone who’s tossed a pumpkin onto the lawn after Halloween to discover vines snaking along the ground the next summer knows how easy it is to grow the plant. Pumpkins have an intriguing history and
Ninety-seven percent of potential new cancer drugs never make it to market, dropping out of clinical trials when they don’t meet measures of safety or efficacy. “Why that is, we don’t really know. But I
“I have no family history of breast cancer,” says the woman in a public service announcement stressing the importance of mammograms for all women. “No one in my family had breast cancer. Not one. But
Despite the rising popularity of plant-based burgers like the Impossible and Beyond, plenty of people still like the real deal. Many studies have linked eating red meat (beef, pork, and lamb) to atherosclerosis, colorectal cancer, other
Like the mythological phoenix bird, gene therapy has risen from the ashes and is spreading its wings. September 17 marked 20 years since the death of 19-year-old Jesse Gelsinger in a gene therapy trial. That
To a trained eye, the chromosome chart (karyotype) above has 4 irregularities, circled in red. They’re chromosome pairs of uneven size. The chromosomes represent genetic material missing or extra, but also a beautiful girl. Her
It seems that lately everything in genetics, which has morphed into genomics, is big, big, big. Data on half a million people represented in the UK Biobank are highlighting genome regions associated with difficult-to-study traits,