DNA News - SciTechDaily

Ancient DNA Analysis Reveals True Appearance of “Exotic” 6th-Century Chinese Emperor

Cell Press — Wed, 22 May 2024 05:46:41 +0000

Researchers reconstructed the face of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou using DNA from his remains, revealing his typical East Asian features and suggesting his premature...

Gene Linked to Learning Difficulties Has Direct Impact on Learning and Memory

University of Exeter — Tue, 14 May 2024 22:25:58 +0000

A gene previously associated with intellectual disability has been discovered to control learning and memory in mice. The gene, called KDM5B has previously been linked...

Ancient Maya Rituals Discovered Beneath Mexico’s Ballcourts

University of Cincinnati — Sun, 05 May 2024 12:58:13 +0000

Researchers have discovered evidence of ceremonial offerings beneath a ballcourt in Mexico. For sports fans, places like Fenway Park, Wembley Stadium or Wimbledon’s Centre Court...

Engineering Life: Chemists Have Created the Functional Synthetic Cells That Act Like Real Ones

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — Sat, 04 May 2024 01:10:45 +0000

Researchers employ cutting-edge methods to create functional cells, closing the divide between synthetic and biological materials. In a new study published in Nature Chemistry, UNC-Chapel...

Ancient DNA Decoded: Tracing Neurodegenerative Diseases to Prehistoric Herders

Jacqueline Garget, University of Cambridge — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 10:03:18 +0000

A significant study reveals that genes associated with multiple sclerosis were introduced to north-western Europe 5,000 years ago by migrating livestock herders, impacting modern susceptibility...

New Harvard-Developed AI System Unlocks Biology’s Source Code

Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 22:34:31 +0000

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, like ChatGPT, have taken the world by storm. Thre isn’t much they don’t have a hand in, from recommending the next...

Genetic Puzzles Solved: Why European Colonization Drove the Blue Antelope to Extinction

University of Potsdam — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 16:09:54 +0000

An international team of researchers led by the University of Potsdam has generated and analyzed the first high-coverage nuclear genome of the extinct blue antelope...

This Natural Compound Combats Cancer – Scientists Have Finally Figured Out How

Institute for Basic Science — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 21:42:27 +0000

Researchers have unlocked the method by which trabectedin circumvents the DNA repair mechanisms of cancer cells, paving the way for tailored treatments. Many cancer treatments...

Rethinking Aging: Could Long Genes Be the Culprits Behind Growing Older?

Cell Press — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:18:44 +0000

Aging may be less about specific “aging genes” and more about how long a gene is. Many of the changes associated with aging could be...

Carbon Alchemy: MIT’s Revolutionary CO2 Conversion Technology

Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 08:25:41 +0000

A catalyst tethered by DNA boosts the efficiency of the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to CO, a building block for many chemical compounds. MIT chemical...

Vaping’s Hidden Dangers: New Study Links E-Cigarettes to DNA Changes

University College London — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 09:12:57 +0000

A new study led by researchers from University College London (UCL) and the University of Innsbruck reveals that individuals who use e-cigarettes, despite having a...

Unlocking the Secret of Aging: Scientists Uncover Surprising Role of Long Genes

Northwestern University — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 14:39:51 +0000

What causes our body to age? Four complementary studies, including one from Northwestern Medicine, have come to the same conclusion: long genes. In a new...

Becoming Human: What Ancient DNA Tells Us About Who We Are

Chinese Academy of Sciences — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 06:23:00 +0000

Writing a commentary in the 50th-anniversary issue of Cell, Fu Qiaomei and E. Andrew Bennett, both of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP)...

Blood Test Breakthrough: How Priming Agents Are Transforming Cancer Detection

Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 20:04:04 +0000

Researchers have created a breakthrough method to enhance cancer detection in blood tests by using priming agents to increase circulating tumor DNA levels, offering a...

Revolutionizing Cancer Detection: New Machine Learning Method Deciphers Genomic “Dark Matter”

Johns Hopkins Medicine — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 12:25:44 +0000

Identifying and characterizing repeated DNA sequences, sometimes called “junk DNA” or “dark matter” within chromosomes, which may play a role in cancer or other diseases,...

Radiation Paradox: Scientists Discover Nematodes Thriving in Chernobyl’s Toxic Landscape

New York University — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 12:38:05 +0000

Studying animals resistant to DNA damage could offer insights into human vulnerability factors. The catastrophic event at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, also...

Peeling Back Time With 5,000 Ancient Human Genomes

University of Copenhagen — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 05:52:10 +0000

Four research articles in Nature follow the genetic traces and geographical origins of human diseases far back in time. The analyses provide detailed pictures of...

Scientists Decipher DNA’s Mysterious Hidden Rules Across Species

NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 02:59:23 +0000

A new study reveals that in the single-celled fungi yeast, “random DNA” is naturally active, whereas in mammalian cells, this DNA is turned off as...

Beyond Telomerase: The Quest for Chromosome Immortality

Rockefeller University — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 22:56:26 +0000

Recent research challenges the long-standing understanding of the end-replication problem in DNA, revealing two distinct issues rather than one. Half a century ago, scientists Jim...

The Unexpected Key to Safe Gene Therapy: Bird Junk DNA

University of California - Berkeley — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 06:38:43 +0000

Retrotransposons can insert new genes into a “safe harbor” in the genome, complementing CRISPR gene editing. The recent greenlighting of a CRISPR-Cas9 treatment for sickle...

Why Don’t Humans Have Tails? Scientists Uncover Genetic Secret That Could Explain Why

NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 21:45:35 +0000

Exploring the process of change could uncover novel functions for elements of the genetic code. A new study conducted by researchers at NYU Grossman School...

Time-Traveling Genes: Ancient DNA Reveals Down Syndrome in Past Human Societies

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 10:40:45 +0000

Burial practices indicate that individuals with Down Syndrome and Edwards Syndrome were recognized as members of their communities For many years, scientists at MPI-EVA have...

Myth Debunked: Syphilis-Like Diseases Were Already Widespread in America Before the Arrival of Columbus

University of Basel — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 16:35:01 +0000

Scientists from the Universities of Basel and Zurich have identified the genetic traces of the bacterium Treponema pallidum in the skeletal remains of individuals who...

Unlocking the Secrets of Soil Microbes to Improve Climate Predictions

Julie Bobyock, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 18:54:47 +0000

Scientists are using the DNA from soil microbes to model how they function and use carbon, ultimately helping to advance the accuracy of climate models....