Genetic Archaeology News Archives Page 23

Family Study Hunts Schizophrenia-Risk Genes In Latinos (4/20/2007)

Three regions of chromosomes 1, 5 and 18 very likely contain genes that contribute to schizophrenia in persons of Mexican and Central American ancestry, investigators of an international genetics study conducted in the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica reported this month. ...> Full Article

Human-Chimp Gene Study Upsets Long-Held View (4/19/2007)

Put a human and a chimpanzee side by side, and it seems obvious which lineage has changed the most since the two diverged from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Such apparent physical differences, along with human speech, language and brainpower, have led many people to believe that natural selection has acted in a positive manner on more genes in humans than in chimps. ...> Full Article

Scientists Unlock Secret Of What Makes Plants Flower (4/19/2007)

A protein acting as a long-distance signal from leaf to shoot-tip tells plants when to flower, says new research published in Science Express on Thursday 19 April 2007. ...> Full Article

When Fish First Started Biting (4/18/2007)

Before fish began to invade land, about 365 million years ago, they had some big problems to solve. They needed to come up with new ways to move, breathe, and eat. ...> Full Article

Research Team Identifies Additional Genetic Risk Factors For Crohn's Disease (4/17/2007)

Variations could improve understanding of disease process, lead to new therapies. ...> Full Article

Scientists Explain Why We Vary In Attractiveness (4/17/2007)

Newcastle University researchers believe they have solved a mystery that has puzzled evolutionary scientists for years ... if 'good' genes spread through the population, why are individuals so different? ...> Full Article

Genetic Archaeology Finds Clues to Pregnancy in Male Pipefish and Seahorses (4/16/2007)

Genetic archaeology is providing a new clue to one of the greatest gender mysteries in the fish world: how did male pregnancy evolve in a family of fish? ...> Full Article

Secret Life Of The Sex-Changing Fish Revealed (4/16/2007)

Research has revealed a remarkable tale of fish changing sex and fish harems in waters off the New South Wales Central Coast. ...> Full Article

Primate Research Center Plays Key Role in Rhesus Genome Project (4/16/2007)

When the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, it was hailed as a groundbreaking health achievement. Now, scientists in Oregon have played a key role in the latest significant breakthrough that will greatly impact genetic studies aimed at treating and curing disease. Researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University took part in the analysis of the newly completed rhesus macaque monkey genome. The results of this monumental project, which involved 35 institutions and 170 researchers, are published in the current edition of the journal Science. ...> Full Article

Treasure Trove of Fossils Found in Illinois Cave (4/15/2007)

Remnants from a cave embedded in a limestone quarry southwest of Chicago have yielded a fossil trove that may influence the known history of north central Illinois some 310 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Man's Best Friend Lends Insight Into Human Evolution (4/15/2007)

Flexibly drawing inferences about the intentions of other individuals in order to cooperate in complex tasks is a basic part of everyday life that we humans take for granted. But, according to evolutionary psychologist Brian Hare at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, this ability is present in other species as well. ...> Full Article

Good Behavior, Religiousness May Be Genetic (4/15/2007)

Study of Twins Shows that Altruistic Behavior not Strictly Environmental ...> Full Article

New Study Zeroes In On The Genetic Roots Of Alzheimer's (4/14/2007)

Scientists have known for more than a decade that individuals with a certain gene are at higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Now a new study helps explain why this is so. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find Fragile X And Down Syndromes Linked To Faulty Brain Communication (4/14/2007)

The two most prevalent forms of genetic mental retardation, Fragile X and Down syndromes, may share a common cause, according to researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. The problem, a crippled communication network in the brain, may also be associated with autism. ...> Full Article

First Study Reporting Chimps Using Caves (4/14/2007)

Chimpanzees in Senegal apparently have much in common with our earliest human ancestors. ...> Full Article

New Primate Species Found In 42 Million-Year-Old Laredo Fossils (4/13/2007)

Something old is now something new, thanks to Lamar University researcher Jim Westgate and colleagues. The scientists' research has led to the discovery of a new genus and species of primate, one long vanished from the earth but preserved in the fossil record. ...> Full Article

Misclassified for Centuries, Medicinal Leeches Found to Be Three Distinct Species (4/13/2007)

Discovery could have impact on future medical treatments ...> Full Article

Researchers Recover T Rex Genetic Material (4/13/2007)

What happens when a 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex meets 21st century medical science? ...> Full Article

Anthropologist Finds Earliest Evidence Of Maize Farming In Mexico (4/13/2007)

A Florida State University anthropologist has new evidence that ancient farmers in Mexico were cultivating an early form of maize, the forerunner of modern corn, about 7,300 years ago—1,200 years earlier than scholars previously thought. ...> Full Article

Disputing Coevolution In Herbivorous Insects (4/12/2007)

Coleoptera (beetles) are one of the most successful groups of organisms on Earth. Their success in evolutionary terms is recognised by their extreme adaptive diversity (occupying almost every possible ecological niche) and their longevity (fossils from the Palaeozoic, 280 million years ago). But most of all, their success is indisputable in their sheer species numbers: with over 350,000 named species and many more to be described, they constitute about one fourth of all species on the Planet! ...> Full Article

Discovery Of Gene Mutation That Causes Infertility In Male Mice Gives Promise Of Similar Finding In Infertile Men (4/12/2007)

Discovery of gene mutation that causes infertility in male mice gives promise of similar finding in infertile men ...> Full Article

Researchers use 'nanopore channels' to precisely detect DNA (4/11/2007)

Researchers at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center have shown how "nanopore channels" can be used to rapidly and precisely detect specific sequences of DNA as a potential tool for genomic applications in medicine, environmental monitoring and homeland security. ...> Full Article

To recognize their friends, mice use their amygdalas (4/11/2007)

Even those who can’t remember names can usually recall faces. New research from Rockefeller University suggests that a simple brain chemical, a neuropeptide called oxytocin, is a reason. ...> Full Article

Scientists find genes involved in the battle between Hessian flies and wheat (4/10/2007)

Wheat has ways to battle the tiny, red wormlike insects that nibble on the plant's leaves and can destroy crops worldwide, but the Hessian fly larvae that survive eventually evolve methods to overcome plant defenses. ...> Full Article

Genetic Switch Can Control Memory (4/9/2007)

McGill University researchers have discovered that a mutant gene improves the long-term memory of laboratory mice, a discovery they hope will one day lead to a better quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients and others suffering from memory impairment. ...> Full Article

Females Do Best if They Wait a While (4/9/2007)

Doubt is cast on one of the biggest assumptions in behavioural ecology. ...> Full Article

Why Are There So Many More Species Of Insects? Because Insects Have Been Here Longer (4/8/2007)

J. B. S. Haldane once famously quipped that "God is inordinately fond of beetles." Results of a study by Mark A. McPeek of Dartmouth College and Jonathan M. Brown of Grinnell College suggest that this fondness was expressed not by making so many, but rather by allowing them to persist for so long. ...> Full Article

New Science of Metagenomics Will Transform Modern Microbiology (4/8/2007)

The emerging field of metagenomics, where the DNA of entire communities of microbes is studied simultaneously, presents the greatest opportunity -- perhaps since the invention of the microscope -- to revolutionize understanding of the microbial world, says a new report from the National Research Council. The report calls for a new Global Metagenomics Initiative to drive advances in the field in the same way that the Human Genome Project advanced the mapping of our genetic code. ...> Full Article

Medical scanners virtually unwrap Science Center's baby mummy (4/7/2007)

Researchers at the University and elsewhere recently helped the St. Louis Science Center probe the mysteries of a baby mummy. The mummy, part of the Science Center's collection of artifacts for two decades, went on permanent public display on March 15 in conjunction with the arrival of an IMAX film on mummies. ...> Full Article

Researchers Identify Gene That Plays Key Role in Body Size (4/6/2007)

An international team of scientists, including researchers from Cornell University, has found a mutation in a single gene that plays a key role in determining body-size differences within and among dog breeds and probably is important in determining the size of humans as well. ...> Full Article