She robs, she injects herself with heroin, she flits across borders like a ghost, she seems to kill with almost professional precision, she leaves clues and bodies – and she has no identity.
posted on Jul 20, 2008 - View this thread

A discovery leads to questions about whether the odds of people sharing genetic profiles are sometimes higher than portrayed. Calling the finding meaningless, the FBI has sought to block such inquiry.
posted on Jul 20, 2008 - View this thread

Bobby Dunbar was a four year-old boy that vanished in 1912, while on a fishing trip with his family in a Louisiana swamp. For weeks, searchers combed the area looking for him. The lake where he went missing was dynamited. Alligators were captured and had their bellies slit open to see if the body was inside. Nothing was found except a set of child's footprints leading to an old railroad trestle. Eight months later, the police found Bobby in the company of a drifter with a horse-drawn cart. He protested his innocence but was arrested and charged with kidnapping. Another woman came forward and claimed Bobby was, in fact, her son. But she was an unmarried fieldworker, and her claims were dismissed. The crime became a nationwide media event and the boy was returned to his parents, and their hometown held a parade in his honor. Bobby returned to his life. Ninety-one years later, Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter uncovered the truth.
posted on Mar 19, 2008 - View this thread

Scientists have built the first synthetic genome by stringing together 147 pages of letters representing the building blocks of DNA.
posted on Jan 26, 2008 - View this thread

Scientists for better PCR
Just mix your template with a buffer and some primers, Nucleotides and polymerases, too.
Denaturing, annealing, and extending. Well it’s amazing what heating and cooling and heating will do.
posted on Jan 11, 2008 - View this thread

Texas definitely a leader among the states, now leading in exonerations in wrongful conviction cases and also a leader in executions. One hopes there isn't too much overlap.
posted on Jan 3, 2008 - View this thread

Imagini Visual DNA. A ten-webpage survey supposed to profile your personality. [via Robot Wisdom]
posted on Sep 18, 2007 - View this thread

The Diploid Genome Sequence of J. Craig Venter. (Previous MeFi)
posted on Sep 16, 2007 - View this thread

U.S. military practices genetic discrimination in denying benefits. "Those medically discharged with genetic diseases are left without disability or retirement benefits. Some are fighting back."
posted on Aug 20, 2007 - View this thread

As advances in DNA testing allow us to discover our genetic origins in ever-greater detail, many people are making surprising discoveries. Especially in the melting-pot that is the USA. Of course there are always those who feel that access to such information about who we are will only lead to bad things
posted on Jul 15, 2007 - View this thread

Termites are Cockroaches.
posted on Jun 5, 2007 - View this thread

Controversial geneticist Jim Watson will soon be the first man to receve a fully-decoded copy of his own DNA blueprint. Watson and Crick discovered the structure of the DNA molecule and won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Watson is also known for his frank opinions. Very frank, indeed.
posted on May 27, 2007 - View this thread

As legends go, the first recorded instance of violence in the feud occurred after an 1873 dispute about the ownership of a hog: Floyd Hatfield had it and Randolph McCoy said it was his. The rest is Appalachian history. But it turns out that history may have had a helping hand in something called Von Hippel-Lindau disease. It weren't the moonshine, Pa. It was the DNA that did it.
posted on Apr 5, 2007 - View this thread

...Historians teach that they are mostly descended from different peoples: the Irish from the Celts and the English from the Anglo-Saxons who invaded from northern Europe and drove the Celts to the country’s western and northern fringes. But geneticists who have tested DNA throughout the British Isles are edging toward a different conclusion. Many are struck by the overall genetic similarities, leading some to claim that both Britain and Ireland have been inhabited for thousands of years by a single people that have remained in the majority, with only minor additions from later invaders like Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Vikings and Normans. The implication that the Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh have a great deal in common with each other, at least from the geneticist’s point of view, seems likely to please no one.

A United Kingdom? Maybe
See also Myths of British ancestry
In the words of one well known Basque cultural icon: HA Ha!
posted on Mar 9, 2007 - View this thread

Beethoven died from lead poisoning.
posted on Mar 2, 2007 - View this thread

Roman descendants found in China? DNA tests will be done in a remote Gobi village to see if the blond-haired Chinese residents are related to Crassus' lost legion of c. 53 BC, as suggested by historian Homer Dubbs in 1957 and debated since.
posted on Feb 4, 2007 - View this thread

Francis Crick was high as a kite on LSD when he figured out the double helix structure of DNA. Later, his role in the drug legalization movement inspired biochemist Richard Kemp to supply Britain with massive amounts of cheap LSD, until he was stopped in one of the largest drug busts in history. When asked about his drug use, Crick replied, "Print a word of it and I'll sue."
posted on Jan 30, 2007 - View this thread

Scientists say they’ve found a code beyond genetics in DNA. The study by Segal et al. [PDF] establishes a model for predicting some (but not all) nucleosome placement. This is critical for understanding the regulation of gene expression.
posted on Jul 25, 2006 - View this thread

Revenge of the Third World Virgins! If you were worth $600 million by age 40, how would you spend the rest of your life? For Larry Hillblom, the "H" in DHL, the plan wassimple: move to the tax haven of Saipan, fly restored WWII seaplanes, restore colonial-era resorts in Vietnam, and -- of course -- bed as many teenaged virgins as possible. When the apparently unmarried and childless Hillblom died in 1995, after the seaplane he was piloting crashed into the South Pacific, his will left nearly his entire fortune to establish a foundation for medical research at UCLA (in gratitude for their treatment of him after an earlier plane crash). But claims on his estate were almost immediately made by several of Larry's virgins, who claimed to have borne children by him. Thus began a bitter court battle for Larry's millions, which resulted in four previously penniless children winning $90 million each after DNA testing proved his paternity. The money may be a mixed blessing for his kids, but considering that Larry almost certainly knew that he could have disinherited them with a few words, he probably wanted it that way.
posted on Jul 5, 2006 - View this thread

A billion smiley faces in a drop of water. In this month's Nature, Caltech researcher Paul Rothemund has described a method of creating nano-scale structures using DNA in a process simple enough for high-school chemistry class. This is the real nanotech.
posted on Mar 16, 2006 - View this thread

Poor old Abe. He had an impressive medical history, as previously discussed. Will we ever figure out all his ailments? As an explanation for "his especially clumsy gait," one theory claims that he had Marfan's Syndrome (with good company). But now researchers are leaning more toward a new theory, that a gene-linked disorder called ataxia. But Lincoln also suffered from depression which could have been heriditary, for which he took "little blue pills" that gave him mercury poisoning, which could explain his insomnia, tremors and rage attacks, gait, and more. Of course, we also suspect that he was in the closet. Lincoln's DNA will continue to be a growth industry, at least until somebody can get hold of a sample of the old guy and figure him out for sure.
posted on Jan 29, 2006 - View this thread

The origin of life?! I heard from an authority in molecular biology today that a group of researchers funded by the Carnegie Institution and NASA believe they've discovered the origin of RNA, and with that, the origin of life. This new discovery grew out of NASA's Deep Impact mission to study the composition of comets. Specifically, they started investigating a kind of carbon that forms in layers, with each layer slighly offset from the previous one in a helix shape. Significantly, the thickness of these carbon layers corresponds with the thickness of each twist in a strand of RNA. It turns out that the individual building blocks of RNA are capable of bonding to this layered carbon when exposed to UV radiation. Once this has happened, apparently formaldehyde can then bond to the building blocks of RNA on the carbon "pattern", allowing the bonded RNA to slough off into the primordial soup. Over time, some of these RNA strands could fold and bond to themselves, forming DNA. Formaldehyde, the initial bonding material, would eventually be replaced by a more chemically sophisticated substance, creating the chemical bond that we observe today in DNA. Expect a paper on it to be released in approximately three months with all the details.
posted on Nov 6, 2005 - View this thread

Acid Round the Clock : stories. No, not stories about acid. (Or are they?) "This isn't my fucking persona," he said, louder, more forcefully, turning over more tables as he headed for the door. But instead of using the door when he got there, he jumped through the plate glass front window beside it, and, while he was still in midair, continued intoning, even louder, "And THIS isn't my fucking persona EITHER!"
posted on Nov 4, 2005 - View this thread

Anonymous sperm donor traced via internet.
A 15 year old boy finds his biological father using online services like FamilyTreeDNA.com and Omnitrace.com. He had some luck during this process, but how anonymous is your sperm donation?
posted on Nov 3, 2005 - View this thread

Biopresence creates human DNA trees by transcoding the DNA of a human within the DNA of a tree in order to create "Living Memorials" or "Transgenic Tombstones".
posted on Oct 14, 2005 - View this thread

National Geographic Migration Study Rouses Indigenous Concern. What do indigenous DNA donors have to gain from their involvement in the Genographic Project? As a First Worlder, I signed up, I swabbed, my genes are being shuttled through the Genographic study as we speak. Can't wait to see the results. And I'm not particularly paranoid, obviously, that the results will be used to harm anyone. But this article did make me curious as to exactly how the study could possibly benefit indigenous peoples. Will it be yet another strike against their origin stories? Will it be like a coke bottle dropping from the sky? Will it, instead, inspire non-indigenous peoples to treat their indigenous cousins with more respect?
posted on Sep 22, 2005 - View this thread

DNA: frightening government privacy invasion tool of tomorrow or beautiful source of personal art today?
posted on Sep 11, 2005 - View this thread

Want to learn to be a CSI? It's the U.S. government's multimedia website to train police and evidence recovery personnel. You can try the tests - the advanced one will tell you if you convicted the accused or not. Pretty slick for Uncle Sam.
posted on Aug 8, 2005 - View this thread

Like mutation, but rinses out in four generations! A new study finds that exposure to high levels of environmental toxins produces epigenetic changes in rats' sperm. "Epigenetics does not involve DNA sequence changes but chemical modification of the DNA." Ultimately, this may help to explain why certain human diseases, such as breast and prostate cancer, are becoming more common. The increase in the incidence of these diseases cannot be accounted for by a normal rate of genetic mutation, but epigenetic damage could be the culprit.
posted on Jun 4, 2005 - View this thread

Eye Color calculator.
posted on May 10, 2005 - View this thread

Who were your first ancestors? Tracking ancient ancestors and the migration of ancient peoples through DNA. Progressive maps from 200,000 years to 10,0000 years ago show the movement of our "tribes" since Adam.
posted on Apr 13, 2005 - View this thread

(A)bort, (I)gnore, (R)evert to Grandma's DNA A jaw-dropping revision to Mendelian inheritance: bad genes can be replaced from a secret ancestral stash. (The same researchers have previously mentioned other ways to get around Mendel.) Also, DNA gets a fake fifth letter.
posted on Mar 23, 2005 - View this thread

If your European ancestors survived the Bubonic Plague 700 years ago, they very likely may have also passed on to you a mutation of the CCR5 gene -- called delta 32. This may not sound exciting, but delta 32 is a powerful mistake. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, attacks the human immune system, infecting the white blood cells sent to destroy it. The delta 32 mutation, however, effectively blocks the crucial gateway into human cells the virus needs. In fact, possessing delta 32 could save your life, and the lives of your children.
posted on Mar 8, 2005 - View this thread

The papers of Francis Crick have been published online by the National Library of Medicine. The highlight of the collection is undoubtedly Crick's original sketch of the structure of DNA, but there are plenty of other fascinating items, including Crick's hostile comments on the manuscript of James Watson's book The Double Helix. (He later wrote to Watson that "if I had known you were going to write the sort of book you have written, I would never have collaborated with you".) For those who don't have time to browse the whole collection, images of selected highlights can also be found here, on the website of the Wellcome Trust, which bought the papers for $2.4 million in order to keep them in the public domain.
posted on Mar 4, 2005 - View this thread

U.S. Denies Patent for a Too-Human Hybrid - what happens when your DNA violates a patent? Not sure where to begin on this one.
posted on Feb 13, 2005 - View this thread

The Barcode of life is a short DNA sequence, from a uniform locality on the genome, used for identifying species. This can revolutionize taxonomy, if more people join the consortium and more species are added to the database. This device would be a biologist's Uber-pony. (via World Changing)
posted on Feb 12, 2005 - View this thread

How to extract DNA from any living thing. Don't just watch the show, create a CSI lab in your own kitchen!
posted on Feb 11, 2005 - View this thread

They’re petrifying wood in the lab next door.

I am certain they’re coming for me next.
posted on Jan 25, 2005 - View this thread

"In his talk... [Harvard President Larry] Summers also used as an example one of his daughters, who as a child was given two trucks in an effort at gender-neutral parenting. Yet she treated them almost like dolls, naming one of them 'daddy truck,' and one 'baby truck.'

"It was during his comments on ability that Hopkins, sitting only 10 feet from Summers, closed her computer, put on her coat, and walked out. 'It is so upsetting that all these brilliant young women [at Harvard] are being led by a man who views them this way,' she said later in an interview." Summers then responded with the currently in vogue non-apology apology.
posted on Jan 18, 2005 - View this thread

Back in Decemeber of 2002 Christa Worthington was murdered in the small Cape Cod tourist (and home of the 'livliest' nude beach on the Cape) of Truro, MA. Despite an active investigation and a $25,000 reward there has little progress in the search for the killer. This has led to a police request for voluntary DNA samples from 790 men. Civil libertarians (ACLU press release in .doc format) are concerned that, though voluntary, police have stated that, "that those who refuse could face some scrutiny." The Dept. of Justice, on the other hand, feels that DNA is a means to prevent crime. Though more common in the UK and Europe, mass DNA testing has been used several times in the United States, most notably in Lousiana where more than 1,000 men were tested in the search for a serial killer.
posted on Jan 10, 2005 - View this thread

To settle the issue, I extracted my own DNA. I extracted the DNA of my subject. I tested both in a gel electrophoresis [flash] chamber that I built myself. As I suspected, although my DNA is delicious, I am not a kiwi fruit.
posted on Dec 5, 2004 - View this thread

View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.
posted on Sep 20, 2004 - View this thread

RIP Francis Crick. The man who helped discover the secret of life is dead.
posted on Jul 29, 2004 - View this thread

not so junk DNA the idea has always made me uncomfortable. now scientists are taking a closer look at base-pair sequences that have been generally overlooked till now.
posted on May 12, 2004 - View this thread

Walking DNA Scientists have created a microscopic walking robot using only the building blocks of life. The robot’s DNA legs move along a DNA footpath, taking a nanostroll in a bath of a liquid called a "nondenaturing buffer", which stops the DNA from falling apart.
posted on May 6, 2004 - View this thread

Scientists have created a miniature medical computer out of DNA that can detect cancer genes in a test tube and respond by releasing a drug. However, an injectable version [of the nanoscale robots] would have to work inside cells, and that accomplishment could take decades. Says Shapiro: "I'm not sure it will be within my lifetime."
posted on May 5, 2004 - View this thread

After all the hoopla about increasing security, it seems that the requirement for biometric data to be included in passports of those entering the US from visa waiver countries will need to be extended for two years to allow other countries to catch up with the technology, as it seems most countries are unable to meet the deadline. Some countries have put on hold the new technology, while others seem committed to going ahead with it, despite doubts about the readiness of the technology. Of course, if civil liberties groups get their way, the biometric passports may never see the light of day. Specific religious issues complicate the matter to some extent, also. Given that, if the technology to produce biometric passports is available, will it really be that hard for forged passports to be created? Unless a massive world-wide database containing the biometric details of every person was used for data-matching, it is hard to see how these new measures will really make much difference to anyone apart from the companies selling the technology.
posted on Apr 26, 2004 - View this thread

"A single test can now reveal the presence of meat from any of 32 different species in food samples, enabling a wide range of important questions to be answered. These include whether chicken has been bulked up with beef or pork extracts; whether expensive albacore tuna is really cheap skipjack tuna; whether rats, mice or even bits of people fell into the mincer when your burger was being made..."
posted on Mar 4, 2004 - View this thread

DNA profiling may be a complex issue, but whatever your take, go ahead and try your hand at genetic sleuthing with this spiffy flash interactive.
posted on Nov 15, 2003 - View this thread

"We are becoming the masters of our own DNA. But does that give us the right to decide that my children should never have been born?" John Sundman is a science fiction novelist and the father of two children with severe medical conditions. In this two-part article he shares his experiences and thoughts on bioethics, the Human Genome Project and whether genetics research is paving the way for a resurgent eugenics movement.
posted on Oct 24, 2003 - View this thread