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Scientists hope the study of it and other giant genomes will shed light on species resilience. The New Caledonian fork fern (Tmesipteris oblanceolate) possesses the largest genome yet found. ORIANE HIDALGO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The human genome is made up of 3 billion base pairs of DNA. But that’s nothing compared with the New Caledonian fork fern (Tmesipteris oblanceolate), a leafy, tendrilled plant native to several Pacific islands. Its genome contains an astonishing 160 billion base pairs, making it the largest genome ever discovered, researchers report today in iScience. The finding could help scientists understand how genomes grow so large, and how...

The Nazi occupying forces massacred civilians in Crete. Credit: Bundesarchiv, CC BY-SA 3.0 de/Wikipedia Greek scientists have recently identified 18 people who were executed by the Nazis in Crete through DNA analysis. In the Battle of Crete during the World War II occupation of Greece, the German forces faced substantial civilian resistance. The inhabitants of Adele, a prosperous lowland village in the northeastern part of the Rethymnon regional unit, resisted fiercely and had formed an armed resistance group. As a consequence, the German forces surrounded the village on June 2, 1941, and arrested 18 male civilians (including two fathers with...

On September 7, 1936, the last known thylacine, often referred to as the Tasmanian tiger, is believed to have died in captivity in Hobart, Tasmania. Since then, the species, long presumed extinct, has taken on a near-mythical status. The thylacine still captures the public’s imagination, having earned its place as a modern symbol of both loss, and also possibilities. The creature’s unmistakable striped appearance has also helped propel it to its current position as a pop cultural icon and a constant reminder of humanity’s more destructive side. Yet what is perhaps the most intriguing about the thylacine is that, for...

How Does One Find Private Genetic Testing. I am looking for private genetic testing and if needed counseling related to family history of dementia. How does one find this sort of thing.. not interested in getting primary involved.

When a trusting customer purchases a kit from 23andMe, spits in their tube, and mails it back, they effortlessly provide 23andMe with genetic data on dozens and dozens of their traits. If the intended goal is to discover a family ancestry line, or if they are a candidate for ailments like breast or prostate cancer and other disease-causing variants, then 23andMe may seem like a valuable tool. However, by consenting to let 23andMe run tests, customers agree to user terms set by the company. (snip) As the partnership between 23andMe and GSK came to life, besides publicly disclosed deals with...

The elongated skulls of Paracas in Peru caused a stir in 2014 when a geneticist that carried out preliminary DNA testing reported that they have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far”. A second round of DNA testing was completed in 2016 and the results almost as controversial – the skulls tested, which date back as far as 2,000 years, were shown to have European and Middle Eastern Origin. It was claimed these surprising results would change the known history about how the Americas were populated. But did they? Paracas is a desert...

Nearly half of the world's language families are found in the Americas. Although many of them are now thought extinct, historical linguistics analysis can survey and compare living languages and trace them back in time to better understand the groups that first populated the continent.In a study published March 30 in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, Johanna Nichols, a historical linguist at the University of California Berkeley, analyzed structural features of 60 languages from across the U.S. and Canada, which revealed they come from two main language groups that entered North America in at least four distinct waves.Nichols surveyed...

The Madison Police and DNA Doe Project have identified skeletal remains found in a chimney in a music store in 1989. The remains were identified as Ronnie Joe Kirk from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kirk according to investigators, was born in 1942, was adopted and raised by family members and attended high school in Tulsa. He was married and divorced twice, and fathered children. He had ties to Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Alabama and Wisconsin. Kirk's remains were found on September 3, 1989. Speaking to Madison Magazine's Doug Moe in 2022, Good n' Loud Music owner Steve Liethen said he was working in...

Thomas Gingeras did not intend to upend basic ideas about how the human body works. In 2012 the geneticist, now at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York State, was one of a few hundred colleagues who were simply trying to put together a compendium of human DNA functions. Their ­project was called ENCODE, for the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements. About a decade earlier almost all of the three billion DNA building blocks that make up the human genome had been identified. Gingeras and the other ENCODE scientists were trying to figure out what all that DNA did. The assumption...

The oldest human viruses, including herpes, have been uncovered in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones - and experts could soon recreate them. Researchers at Brazil's Federal University of São Paulo identified remnants of the herpesviruses, which causes cold sores, the sexually transmitted papillomavirus and adenovirus, also known as the common cold, in two male Neanderthals' DNA found in a Russian cave. Previous theories suggested that Neanderthals may have gone extinct because of viruses and the latest study may be the first to provide evidence for this idea. Now, the team hopes to synthesize the viruses and infect human cells in a lab...

Deep in the heart of China's karst landscapes, scientists have discovered immense sinkholes that appear to contain ancient forests that are teeming with life, according to the Debrief. These sinkholes are known as karst tiankengs — and they appear to be a hotbed of genetic diversity and home to endangered species like the Manglietia aromatica. A recent study was published in the March issue of Forests, which appeared to provide evidence that these sinkholes have conserved long lost DNA. In the introduction to the study, researchers stated: "China has the most extensive distribution of karst terrain globally, covering an area...

After nearly 40 years, police say they have solved two cold-case murders of Virginia women using genetic genealogy. On Tuesday morning, cops arrested Elroy Harrison, 65, in connection with the 1986 slaying of Jacqueline Lard, 32, who was working at a real-estate office when she was beaten and left dead under a pile of carpet in the woods. Authorities say they also expect to charge Harrison in the death of Amy Baker, 18, who was fatally strangled and dumped in the woods after her car broke down in 1989. Forensic evidence links the two cases, police said. ...

Three years after reports of indigenous mass graves triggered the torching or vandalism of 85-plus churches, no graves have been found.Three years ago, a major story broke in Canada that seemed to confirm every left-wing prejudice against Christians imaginable: A mass grave containing the remains of indigenous children was supposedly discovered on the grounds of what had once been a government boarding school run by the Catholic Church.It turns out the whole thing was a hoax, a modern-day blood libel against Christians that ended with at least 85 Catholic churches across Canada destroyed by arson, vandalized, or desecrated. Canadian political...

Thousands of bones from boys and men likely killed in a ferocious battle 2,000 years ago have been unearthed from a bog in Denmark, researchers said Monday. Without local written records to explain, or a battlefield to scour for evidence, experts are nevertheless piecing together a story... Four pelvic bones strung on a stick were among the remains of at least 82 people found during archaeological excavations at Alken Enge in Jutland... The more than 2,300 human bones were contained in peat and lake sediments over 185 acres (75 hectares) of wetland meadows. Radiocarbon-dating put them between 2 BC and...

The unique discovery at the east end of Lake Mossø of a slaughtered army dating to around two thousand years ago, was revealed by Danish archaeologists in 2009. They had found skeletal material from up to 200 warriors, who may have all come from the same battle. Cuts and slashes on the skeletons showed they had died violently but nothing is as yet known about the identity of the killers, or their victims. In February this year it was announced that the Carlsberg Foundation has granted 1.5 million DKK for further research and excavations in Alken Wetlands. Archaeologists and other...

...Using population genomic modeling methods, the researchers determined that C. arabica evolved as a result of natural hybridization between two other species of coffee: C. eugenioides and C. canephora. The hybridization resulted in a polyploid genome, meaning each offspring contains two sets of chromosomes from each parent. This may have given C. arabica a survival advantage that enabled it to thrive and adapt...The researchers acknowledge that there is a margin of error. Earlier estimates of the time of hybridization date it as recently as 10,000 years ago."We had to input an estimated mutation rate, and a generation time (seed to...

In 2018, a female Neanderthal was discovered in the Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. Now, archaeologists from The University of Cambridge have unveiled the reconstructed face of the 75,000-year-old woman, based on the assembly of hundreds of individual bone fragments recovered during excavations. “Neanderthals have had a bad press ever since the first ones were found over 150 years ago,” said Professor Graeme Barker from Cambridge’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, who led the excavation at the cave where the woman’s remains were discovered. Neanderthals are believed to have become extinct around 40,000 years ago, and discoveries of their remains...

* An adult male named Rakus chewed a plant used by people in Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation, then applied it to an injury on his right cheek * Photographs show the animal’s wound closed within a month without any problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rakus, a Sumatran orangutan, is seen two months after he started treating himself with a medicinal plant at a protected rainforest area in Indonesia. Photo:Safruddin/Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour via Reuters AsiaSoutheast Asia Wild orangutan seen using medicinal plant to treat wound, scientists say An adult male named Rakus chewed a plant used by people...

Advances in biotechnology are transforming food production with fungi playing a pivotal role. Research led by Vayu Hill-Maini utilizes genetic engineering to enhance fungi’s natural properties, creating nutritious and sustainable meat alternatives. This approach not only opens new avenues in food science but also integrates sophisticated culinary applications. A gene-edited fungal culture from Vayu Hill-Maini’s research, seen on a dinner plate. Credit: Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab Hacking the genome of fungi for smart foods of the future. With animal-free dairy products and convincing vegetarian meat substitutes already on the market, it’s easy to see how biotechnology can change the food industry....

Authorities have finally identified the remains of a New York City teenager coined "Midtown Jane Doe," after her grisly murder spawned a decadeslong cold case investigation. A recent breakthrough owed to advanced forensics linked her DNA to the mother of a woman killed on 9/11. Jane Doe was identified as Patricia Kathleen McGlone, who was just 16 at the time of her death and had previously lived and attended school in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. Investigators believe she was murdered during the latter half of 1969, or, potentially, at some point in early 1970, said Detective Ryan Glas...