Less than two weeks after a controversial paper came to light advocating the pre-natal treatment of some female fetuses with a hormone to make their behavior more stereotypically female (
previously discussed here) comes news of actual animal research on causing the opposite inclination. By knocking out the fucose mutarotase gene, scientists in South Korea have apparently created "Lesbian mice" who prefer other female mice and who resist the attempts of male mice to mate with them.
Article abstract, and
coverage by The Telegraph.
posted by Asparagirl
on Jul 9, 2010 -
19 comments
"
Hi. My name is Gene and this is my journal." Young Gene Roddenberry meets two Garfield-eyed aliens who proceed to take him everywhere in their exploration of this strange planet Earth. In the process, we see where Gene came up with the idea of a unified
borderless,
moneyless world that would allow
dashing starship captains to
seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly going
where no one has gone before. We see where Gene first met
tribbles,
Orion slave girls,
Organians, and the
Guardian of Forever, and how Gene came up with
phasers,
tricorders, the
Prime Directive,
food replicators (from which he orders
gagh),
Questor androids, and the
Enterprise design.
[more inside]
posted by WCityMike
on Sep 2, 2009 -
28 comments
"We have
[a substance] that extends the life of every species it's given to. We're 50 years ahead of where I thought we would be 10 years ago." While Harvard Medical School rules prevent
David Sinclair from recommending
product, "I know a number of scientists who think
[it] is their best shot. Others satisfy themselves with a glass of
red wine," which contains the compound.
Too good to be true?
posted by stbalbach
on Oct 6, 2004 -
20 comments
Scientists in Australia have
discovered a new gene. Called BRCA3, this genetic mutation causes up to 10% of the breast cancer cases which run within families. This breakthrough completes the search for the trilogy of gene mutations. The first two gene mutation markers were discovered in 1994 and 1995 respectively.
posted by lucien
on Feb 8, 2002 -
1 comment
"Language Gene" found... (link to
arstechnica discussion)
"A group of Oxford University researchers presented findings in this week's Nature that they isolated a gene called FOXP2 that appears to be involved in both speech and language development." this is intriguing... that so much can start from so little.
posted by zerolucid
on Oct 5, 2001 -
7 comments
Isolating the gene responsible for caffeine is expected to lead to decaffeinated beans, and a higher-quality coffee product, all-around... But are they considering other applications? With a bit of gene splicing, anything is possible. Caffeinated oranges, anyone?
posted by Jairus
on Aug 31, 2000 -
35 comments
