genetics

DARPA: We Are Engineering the Organisms That Will Terraform Mars

Posted in Science on 25th Jun, 2015
by Alex Muller

DARPA believes that it's on the way to creating organisms capable of terraforming Mars into a planet that looks more like Earth.

New sleep genes found

Posted in Medicine on 21st Jun, 2015
by Alex Muller

Most of us need seven to eight hours of sleep a night to function well, but some people seem to need a lot less sleep. The difference is largely due to genetic variability.

Evolution is unpredictable and irreversible, biologists show

Posted in Science on 10th Jun, 2015
by Alex Muller

The study focuses exclusively on the type of evolution known as purifying selection, which favors mutations that have no or only a small effect in a fixed environment.

Telomere extension turns back aging clock in cultured human cells

Posted in Medicine on 25th May, 2015
by Alex Muller

Researchers delivered a modified RNA that encodes a telomere extending protein to human cells. Cell proliferation was dramatically increased, yielding large numbers.

Alzheimer's origins tied to rise of human intelligence

Posted in Medicine on 24th May, 2015
by Alex Muller

Factors that drove the evolution of intellectual capacity are also implicated in the memory disorder.