Why do some people get hooked on drugs and alcohol, while others can party hard and walk away? We tend to think it's a matter of willpower or moral fiber, but it has more to do with a roll of the genetic dice.
Alisa Rock, whose 10-year-old son Connor has autism, says parents of autistic children often align themselves with one of two camps: There are those who believe that genes cause the disorder, and those firmly convinced that environmental factors are to blame.
Three U.S. researchers have won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for solving "a major problem in biology," the Nobel Committee announced Monday.
In the autumn of 2007, Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki launched the era of pop genetics by going live with 23andme, their DNA testing startup.
I have seen many weight loss DNA testing kits on the Internet. These tests claim to identify the best weight loss program by analyzing your DNA. Is there any merit to this?
For 12 years, Georgia Dunston and Dr. Chiledum Ahaghotu have been trying to figure out why African-American men develop prostate cancer at an earlier age and are twice as likely to die from it than any other group in the United States.
Price competition is coming to the rarified world of genome sequencing.
Here's a little-known fact: Under current law, it's possible to hold a patent on a piece of human DNA, otherwise known as a gene.
If you want to peer inside your DNA, there's no shortage of companies offering avenues for doing so these days.
Have at least $68,000 to spare? If so, you may be in the running to join an exclusive group of individuals who have had their complete genome sequenced.
Why do some people get hooked on drugs and alcohol, while others can party hard and walk away? We tend to think it's a matter of willpower or moral fiber, but it has more to do with a roll of the genetic dice.
Alisa Rock, whose 10-year-old son Connor has autism, says parents of autistic children often align themselves with one of two camps: There are those who believe that genes cause the disorder, and those firmly convinced that environmental factors are to blame.
Three U.S. researchers have won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for solving "a major problem in biology," the Nobel Committee announced Monday.
In the autumn of 2007, Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki launched the era of pop genetics by going live with 23andme, their DNA testing startup.
I have seen many weight loss DNA testing kits on the Internet. These tests claim to identify the best weight loss program by analyzing your DNA. Is there any merit to this?
For 12 years, Georgia Dunston and Dr. Chiledum Ahaghotu have been trying to figure out why African-American men develop prostate cancer at an earlier age and are twice as likely to die from it than any other group in the United States.
Price competition is coming to the rarified world of genome sequencing.
Here's a little-known fact: Under current law, it's possible to hold a patent on a piece of human DNA, otherwise known as a gene.
If you want to peer inside your DNA, there's no shortage of companies offering avenues for doing so these days.
Have at least $68,000 to spare? If so, you may be in the running to join an exclusive group of individuals who have had their complete genome sequenced.
When Julian Asher listens to an orchestra, he doesn't just hear music; he also sees it. The sounds of a violin make him see a rich burgundy color, shiny and fluid like a red wine, while a cello's music flows like honey in a golden yellow hue.
The world of technology is filled with epic face-offs: Betamax vs. VHS, Netscape vs. Microsoft's Windows Explorer, Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD.
Researchers announced this week that they've found a new gene, ALS6, which is responsible for about 5 percent of hereditary Lou Gehrig's cases.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania announced in April 2008 the use of an innovative gene therapy treatment to safely restore vision in three adults with a rare form of congenital blindness. The technique involves an injection that delivers DNA to the nucleus of a cell so it can begin making the protein that the blind patients don't have. Although the patients have not achieved normal eyesight, the results set the stage for possible treatment of other retinal diseases.
The chances of surviving ovarian cancer appear to vary dramatically depending on the levels of two tumor proteins, suggesting that this type of cancer may have a more nuanced outlook than the grim statistics indicate.
A team of scientists at Penn State University could be one step closer to bringing extinct species back to life.
About one in seven men has a combination of genes -- one new and one first discovered in 2001 -- that increases his risk of male pattern baldness sevenfold, compared to men without the combination.
According to a new study of an active Amish population, researchers say fat genes may not destine you to a lifetime of obesity
Scientists have mapped the cascade of genetic changes that turn normal cells in the brain and pancreas into two of the most lethal cancers
Dr. Francis Collins, arguably the nation's leading geneticist, is working on a book that promises "stunning new revelations about why we get sick, what it means to be healthy and more
It took the Human Genome Project $3 billion and 13 years to map the first genome and reduce it to a chemical code six billion letters long. Today, with faster computers and improved techniques, a research laboratory can sequence your DNA in about six weeks at a cost of $100,000 to $300,000.
Tom Perls, an aging expert at Boston University, explains why women live five to 10 years longer than men
Preliminary studies of mice suggest that our willingness to exercise -- or not -- may be genetic
Research points to learning-related genes as a contributor to autism and suggests that early intervention in children can help fix genetic defects
Researchers have discovered how the cold sore virus hides in the body, which may be the key to a permanent cure
Oliver Smithies speaks fondly of Danish potatoes and beautiful equations. More on the potatoes later. Smithies is credited with helping to revolutionize genetic studies. For more than half a century his passion for science and tireless experimentation have revealed some of DNA's best-kept secrets and he's not about to stop.
Why do some smokers get cancer and others don't? Scientists have discovered two genetic variants that may be the reason
A groundbreaking new study helps explain why some people succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder while others don't
I am one of the most avid sports fans you'll find," Se-Jin Lee says. It's true. He'll watch anything. Basketball. Football. Fútbol. Billiards on channel seven-hundred-whatever. As a graduate student in the '80s Lee used to sit in his car in the driveway with the radio on to listen to the games of faraway baseball teams. Even now, in his lab at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, he easily rattles off the NCAA basketball tournament winners in order from 1964 to 2007. And, like anyone who values fair competition these days, he's disturbed by the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.
For years, political scientists assumed our political leanings came from the way we were raised and the company we keep. You're a screaming liberal? Must be because you were raised in a household full of screaming liberals. You're an arch conservative? Must be because of that college you went to.
Craig Venter has built the first man-made genome. Soon those genes may cause a cell to come alive. This tiny organism will be Venter's own -- and that's just the start
A rare genetic variation dramatically raises the risk of developing autism, a large study showed, opening new research targets for better understanding the disorder and for treating it
Genes that regulate the brain's sensitivity to dopamine -- a chemical involved in addiction and motivation -- can affect the ability to learn from our errors
Biotechs and big pharma are betting billions on an experimental technology that could be a quantum leap for healthcare, or just a big bust.
Biologist-entrepreneur J. Craig Venter is part of a new kind of scientific explorer whose uncharted territory was his own genes.
British authorities ruled Wednesday that research using animal eggs to create human stem cells could go forward in principle.
In 1913, the New Jersey poet and critic Joyce Kilmer wrote "Trees," a poem which concludes with this simple rhyme:
Roche Holding AG has signed a deal worth up to $1 billion with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., giving it access to the U.S. firm's skills in the new science of RNA interference.
A genetic mutation that raises the risk of breast cancer is found in up to 60 percent of U.S. women, making it the first truly common breast cancer susceptibility gene, researchers report.
A procedure that replaces faulty genes in the blind might hold cures for all kinds of genetic diseases and for cancer
Scientists have unlocked the genetic code that could pave the way to a new generation of highly effective cancer drugs with none of the painful side effects of existing treatments.
Wandering through the aisles of the local grocery store, one can't help but notice the number of everyday food products that now feature some added health benefit.
One of the many joys of the World Cup is engaging in a 30-day frenzy of flag-hugging nationalism. Many Americans root for more than one team: the U.S. and the country of their ancestors. If you're ...
Researchers say they have developed an enhanced map of the human genome that could yield breakthroughs in understanding the genetic origins of illnesses such as heart disease, Alzheimer's and various forms of cancer.
(Time.com) -- You don't have to be a biologist or an anthropologist to see how closely the great apes -- gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans -- resemble us.
Apart from those hoping to climb the corporate ladder, a lot of people sign up to business school with the aim of gaining the necessary skills to one day make millions as the boss of their own company.
Genes are the basic building blocks of life, and in studying them genetic science is giving us the ability to adapt and alter ourselves fundamentally, providing unprecedented opportunities to improve on nature.
It's been quite a week for Sirna Therapeutics -- and it's still only Monday.
Dr. When most kids were learning to ride bikes, little Frank J. Rauscher III was learning the ins and outs of a cancer research lab.
Some of the biggest medical discoveries have come in the last 25 years -- everything from Viagra to laser vision correction.
Deep in the bowels of Monsanto's sprawling headquarters' research complex, in a room protected by a heavy steel door, 672 corn seedlings repose in plastic trays. The temperature in the room, known ...
THIS IS MODERN MEDICINE'S MILLION-DOLLAR question: Does a given human's DNA--yours, for instance--contain a mutation that researchers know or suspect is related to disease? One of many firms settin...
DARLENE NIPPER GOT ALMOST NOTHING BUT awful news in the early weeks of September 2003. First she learned that the two-centimeter lump in her left breast--the one her gynecologist had responded to b...
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BOUNDING UP THE STAIRS AT THE BEIJING Genomics Institute, Darren Cai, vice president of business development, pulls a flight ahead of me before I realize that the usual pace here is close to a spri...
Genetic sequencing—the science of mapping the location and function of genes found in a strand of DNA—has been hailed for its potential to fight disease and save lives. Yet many consumers may get t...
Absent-mindedly stroking his Rip Van Winkle beard, Aubrey de Grey recalls when he first realized how humans might halt the process of growing old. His "Eureka!" came at a research meeting in Califo...
It's strange to think that I can still remember the smell after all this time. The year was 1978, not long after my 15th birthday, and I'd sneaked into my brother's bedroom. There, on a wall of she...
The moment was vintage Craig Venter: Biology's bad boy stood before a crowd of reporters in Washington, D.C., trumpeting his latest achievement, with a beaming Spencer Abraham, the U.S. Secretary o...
You can't help feeling uncertain. As sure as the sun rises, alarmist morning headlines report illness and disease. Then you breathe that hazy metro air, work to exhaustion, and hear that a friend j...
At first glance, genomics startup Perlegen Sciences seems a world apart from Google, the celebrated Internet search-engine company. But a closer look shows striking parallels: Both are Silicon Vall...
As science celebrates the decoding of the human genome, the man whose invention made it all possible isn't cheering. At the moment, in fact, he's tapping intently on a laptop in his office, trying ...
Advances that win Nobel Prizes are uncommon, ones worth billions of dollars are even scarcer, and those yielding both are blue-moon rare. In biotech there have been just two blue moons, both in the...
Lee Hood: the man who automated biology
The manager of a truck plant faces hard physical limits to how many vehicles his factory can make in a year. But in the blossoming industry of biotech drugs, where production takes place in a ferme...
With genomics stocks deep in the tank, it seems fair to put a pointed question to Eric Lander, gene science's go-to guy for the big picture: Hasn't the value of his field been way overstated? Lande...
Europeans have earned a reputation as biotech trailblazers; their scientists produced the first test-tube baby, discovered the AIDS virus, and launched the science of cloning. Yet when it comes to ...
Pills can be a tough addiction to kick. Especially Big Pills. You know the ones we're talking about: the Mercks, the Pfizers, the Schering-Ploughs. Such feel-good stocks have long been the financia...
Picture prizefighter Hector "Macho" Camacho showing up at high tea. That was the effect one day in May as Bill Haseltine, CEO of Human Genome Sciences, hopped out of his limo at a Washington, D.C.,...
You can't blame John Todd for seeming a little cranky these days. The University of Cambridge geneticist has spent years searching for the 20 or so genes thought to play a role in type 1 diabetes. ...
Last year Celera Genomics and its president, J. Craig Venter, shook up the scientific world by successfully sequencing the human genome faster than anyone--even Venter--had predicted. But when the ...
In the past few years Rockville, Md., a quiet suburb of Washington, D.C., has become one of the biggest hubs of biotech research, especially in the cutting-edge field of genomics. Why Rockville? Th...
The death of nine-year-old Michael Adams-Conroy didn't seem at first like a signal event in medicine. It seemed like homicide.
You won't find many beakers and Bunsen burners in J. Craig Venter's labs, where 50 scientists recently sequenced 3.12 billion letters of the human genetic code. Instead, Celera Genomics, with its S...
First, a confession: Weeks ago I grew weary of the relentless roll of journalistic drums about the imminent decoding of the human genome. Sure, it's biology's moon shot. True, it will pave the way ...
Loss threatens young biotech companies in more forms than any other kind of business. Investors can lose millions when a promising drug fails to work or funds run out before testing is complete. Re...
Biotech stocks have been as hot--and volatile--in recent months as Internet stocks. From last July to February 2000, the American Stock Exchange biotech index soared 220%. Protein Design Labs leape...
Initial public offerings are busting out in the biotechnology industry like desert flowers after rain. "We'll see as many as 50 biotech IPOs over the next several months," estimates Steven Burrill,...
In 1998 biotechnology's jauntiest visionary, J. Craig Venter, stunned fellow scientists by declaring that a company he was forming would decode human DNA's sequence of chemical building blocks by t...
A breakthrough by a group of researchers in Philadelphia may help reinvigorate the struggling field of gene therapy and portend a future in which Just For Men hair color is history.
Like music fans sliding CDs into stereos, scientists in biochemistry and pharmaceuticals labs have recently been loading little square thingies called LabChips into novel, toaster-sized machines. T...
Larry Ellison has the good life down pat--health, youthful good looks, vast wealth, a fast sailboat, airplanes, and more gorgeous amours than a Hollywood hunk. But like every potentate from King Tu...
Chin up, fellow boomers, aging has its compensations. Our fingernails are growing slower, so we don't need to clip them as often. Our sweat glands are waning, so we have less body odor to worry abo...
From the look of its stock-price chart, you'd think Millennium Pharmaceuticals was a hot Internet company. Its share price almost quadrupled between September and February--nearly matching Yahoo's ...
Twenty years ago, Jeremy Rifkin co-wrote Who Should Play God, which predicted advances in biotechnology like cloning and warned that they posed ethical dilemmas we ignored at our peril. In his new ...
There's a revolution going on. You may know it as cloned mice, or the Human Genome Project, or perhaps insect-resistant corn. It's a revolution with many fronts but one clear quest: unlocking the s...
Few medical topics get as much scary press as genetic testing. The typical story: A person learns from a DNA test that he's inherited a faulty gene predisposing him to, say, a fatal brain disease y...
To put the recent cloning of a sheep in perspective, it helps to keep in mind two things: dogs and sex.
When future historians finish deflating the late 20th century, an era acutely distended by hype, they'll probably be left with just two events worth entire chapters. One was the advent of the compu...
BEHIND the red brick walls of two unprepossessing buildings in a science park in Rockville, Maryland, l35 scientists and entrepreneurs are laying the groundwork for a new epoch in biology and medic...
Using biotechnology to uncover the genetic roots of disease will rank with 20th-century milestones like splitting the atom, inventing the computer, and landing men on the moon. But advances in gene...
Hope I die before I get old. PETE TOWNSHEND 1966
BUGS -- viruses and bacteria -- cause most minor diseases, and some of the major ones like AIDS. But many of the real killers and cripplers, including cancer, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, a...
Jerome Lejeune, a French geneticist, discovered in 1959 that people born with Down's syndrome have one more chromosome than the usual human complement of 46. He liked to compare the collection of h...
YOU'VE HEARD the band music and the rest of the hoopla about the high-powered health products turned out by genetic engineering -- a cornucopia that ranges from new vaccines to promising drugs for ...
IN THE AGE of large-scale science, when research goals become national priorities and individual laboratory budgets can surpass the billion-dollar mark, the lone scientist still plays a central rol...
IN THE HEADLONG RUSH of high technology, the driving force has been the computer and everything connected with it -- semiconductor chips, robots, telecommunications. By the year 2000 the electronic...
PIGS THE SIZE of cows? Cows the size of elephants? Maybe. By injecting modified human growth-hormone genes into the just-fertilized eggs of mice, scientists have created new generations of oversize...
AGRICULTURAL biotechnology is finally emerging from a miasma of wild-eyed claims and promises that have swathed it in recent years. After researchers at the Max Planck Institute in West Germany suc...
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