Diverse perspectives on science and medicine
I have a special fondness for tortoises. Many years ago I bought a baby Sulcata tortoise at a reptile show. Unbeknownst to me, as I brought the Oreo-sized Speedy home in a McDonald’s burger container, she
I’ve been immersed in genetic genealogy, following up on a recent contact from a relative I didn’t know existed. While trying to imagine scenarios that might explain how we came to be connected, I contacted
A few weeks ago a report claiming a love for coffee is “in the genes” fleetingly flashed across screens. I thought I’d let the grounds settle and then take a closer look, fitting with my
Every week, it seems, yet another politician, or someone in a politician’s orbit, releases a book and lights up the media. Against a backdrop of ordinary people recording nearly everything, celebrities and politicians become insta-authors
Tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass.” On November 9 and 10, 1938, Storm Troopers, Hitler Youth, and civilians rampaged through Nazi Germany, shattering the windows of more than a
I’ve just discovered that my birthday, October 29, is also National Sea Slug Day, so I thought I’d look into these creatures about which I know nothing, alerted by a news release. A new 74-page
When Elizabeth Warren released her DNA results last week, indicating a Native American ancestor a few generations back, my response was, and still is, so what? Besides the facts that the revelation wasn’t surprising, its
Spots are common in the animal kingdom. Birds, insects, reptiles, fishes, and of course mammals sport spots. In Darwinian terms, a trait persists because it provides a benefit that leads to reproductive success – the
When a disease is as relentless as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; aka Lou Gehrig’s disease; aka motor neuron disease), any promising research result is welcome news. A study just published in Science Advances shows that two
Many posts at DNA Science have been about families navigating life with a rare disease. I especially think of them during October, when so much attention is focused on breast cancer. One in eight women will