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(BRONX, NY) — A team led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has found a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres — the tip ends of chromosomes. The findings appear in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Telomeres play crucial roles in aging, cancer and other biological processes. Their importance was recognized last month, when three scientists were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for determining the structure of telomeres and discovering how they protect...

Why Evolutionary-Based Science Is A Menace To Scientific Research, Discovery, and Progress Evolutionary-based research always begins with the inaccurate and unscientific presupposition that the Theory of Evolution, i.e. the Big Bang, the spontaneous generation of life, and common descent, is true. Due to this systemic problem, scientific discovery and progress is severely hampered, not to mention the hundreds of millions of research dollars that are squandered every year. In a time in which almost ANY alternative thought is given a platform, the evolution industry is silencing dissenting scientific evidence, even when it’s from fellow evolutionists! See the growing list of...

A judge's decision to reduce a killer's sentence because he has genetic mutations linked to violence raises a thorny question – can your genes ever absolve you of responsibility for a particular act? In 2007, Abdelmalek Bayout admitted to stabbing and killing a man and received a sentenced of 9 years and 2 months. Last week, Nature reported that Pier Valerio Reinotti, an appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression. Leaving aside the question of whether this link is well enough understood to justify Reinotti's...

People have a deep desire to communicate with animals, as is evident from the way they converse with their dogs, enjoy myths about talking animals or devote lifetimes to teaching chimpanzees how to speak. A delicate, if tiny, step has now been taken toward the real thing: the creation of a mouse with a human gene for language.

Neil Whitehead, Ph.D. Twin studies are favorites of mine because of the potential light they throw on the origins of same-sex attractions (SSA). The latest one (Santtila et al., 2008) is three times larger than any previous study - in fact, larger than all the rest put together.Does this latest study teach us something new? Quick answer: No. It confirms the best recent studies, which tell us that genetic factors are minor; non-genetic factors are major.The paper's title is "Potential for Homosexual Response is Prevalent and Genetic." This implies to the average reader that homosexuality is sometimes hidden, but commonly...

The attempt to prove that homosexuality is determined biologically has been dealt a knockout punch. An American Psychological Association publication includes an admission that there's no homosexual "gene" -- meaning it's not likely that homosexuals are born that way. For decades, the APA has not considered homosexuality a psychological disorder, while other professionals in the field consider it to be a "gender-identity" problem. But the new statement, which appears in a brochure called "Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality," states the following: "There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that...

A group of scientists have unveiled what they say is the most comprehensive study ever of African genes. Published following a decade of study, the researchers say their findings give new insight into the origins of humans. The first humans probably evolved near the South Africa-Namibia border before migrating north, the study says. Published in the US journal Science, it aims to teach Africans on population history and aid research into why diseases hit particular groups. The scientists examined genetic material from 121 African populations, as well as four African-American populations and 60 non-African populations.

Is Horizontal Gene Transfer a Force for Evolution? April 13, 2009 — Two more genomes were published last week: the information libraries of two tiny microbes.  They are members of Micromonas, green algae less than two microns across.  The original paper and summary both bragged about how the genetic information is helping shed light on evolution, but did the data really contain any light?  If so, the light was pointing downward. Worden et al published the genomes of RCC299 and CCMP1545, two isolates of the picophytoplankton clade Micromonas.1 John M. Archibald commented on the paper in Perspectives article in the same...

A breakthrough by scientists could see dentures bite the dust. Researchers have pinpointed the gene that governs the production of tooth enamel, raising the tantalising possibility of people one day growing extra teeth when needed. At the very least, it could cut the need for painful fillings. Experiments in mice have previously shown that the gene, a 'transcription factor' called Ctip2, is involved in the immune system and in the development of skin and nerves. The latest research, from Oregon State University in the U.S., adds enamel production to the list. The researchers made the link by studying mice genetically...

Darwinists Topple Darwin’s Tree of Life Darwin’s “Tree of Life” is a myth. It’s based on circular reasoning. It is a pattern imposed on the data, not a fact emerging from the evidence. We should give up the search for a single tree of life (TOL) as a record of the history of life on earth, because it is a “quixotic pursuit” unlikely to succeed – and the evidence is against it. Who said this? Not creationists, but a new member of the National Academy of Sciences in his inaugural paper for the academy’s Proceedings.1 W. Ford Doolittle and Eric...

The prospect of sequencing every patient’s genetic code has enticed doctors since the first draft of the human genome was published in 2001. DNA profiles for all would provide critical information about individuals’ inherited risk of diseases and could match patients to the drugs most likely to work for them. This dream has been held up by two technical barriers. DNA sequencing was too expensive: the initial Human Genome Project cost $4 billion. And as little was known about which genes contribute to common diseases, there was little to be gained by mapping them. Both problems are being overcome. The...

Every baby could have its genetic code mapped out at birth within 10 years, a process which will predict conditions such as diabetes and heart disease and help prevent them. Jay Flatley, head of leading genome company Illumina, predicted a revolution in healthcare after the complete DNA read-out for every newborn becomes a technical reality. He said only social and legal issues would delay the process. But with many people reluctant to have their genome read for fear it could be used against them by employers or insurance companies, the process is expected to raise difficult questions over privacy. The...

Darwin's Evolutionary Tree 'Annihilated' by Brian Thomas, M.S.* In 1837, Charles Darwin drew his first “evolutionary tree” in his “B” notebook, with the words “I think” scrawled above it, to illustrate his idea that all of today’s species arose from a single common ancestor. But the poor fit of gene sequence data is forcing scientists to abandon the tree.1 “Biologists need to depart from the preconceived notion that all genomes are related by a single bifurcating tree,”2 making way for a new paradigm of origins. A non-Darwinian evolutionary view has been offered, but this proposition is actually just the old...

As a new book speculates that 'Britain's Einstein' was autistic, an autism expert warns that a prenatal test for the condition would prevent brilliant scientists like Paul Dirac from ever being born A new book on the greatest British physicist since Newton speculates that both his profound mathematical abilites and his extreme social awkwardness stemmed from undiagnosed autism. The claims – from a biography of Paul Dirac by Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man – tie in with an article on the BBC website from leading autism researcher Prof Simon Baron-Cohen. Baron-Cohen says we need a public debate about the prenatal...

Britain's first baby genetically selected to be free of a breast cancer gene has been born, doctors said. Specialists from University College London spoke of their "absolute delight" after revealing the girl and her mother were in good health. The baby grew from an embryo screened to ensure it did not contain the faulty BRCA1 gene, which passes the risk of breast cancer down generations. Any daughter born with the gene has a 50% to 85% chance of developing breast cancer. Announcing her birth, Paul Serhal, medical director of the Assisted Conception Unit at the hospital, said he was "absolutely...

Woolly-Mammoth Gene Study Changes Extinction Theory Ball of permafrost-preserved mammoth hair containing thick outer-coat and thin under-coat hairs. Credit: Stephan Schuster lab, Penn State A large genetic study of the extinct woolly mammoth has revealed that the species was not one large homogenous group, as scientists previously had assumed, and that it did not have much genetic diversity. "The population was split into two groups, then one of the groups died out 45,000 years ago, long before the first humans began to appear in the region," said Stephan C. Schuster, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn...

Many African-Americans Have A Gene That Prolongs Life After Heart Failure ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2008) — About 40 percent of African-Americans have a genetic variant that can protect them after heart failure and prolong their lives, according to research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. The genetic variant has an effect that resembles that of beta blockers, drugs widely prescribed for heart failure. The new study offers a reason why beta blockers don't appear to benefit some African-Americans. "For several years a controversy has existed in the cardiovascular field because of conflicting reports...

Shorter Women May Have Very Long Lives: Gene Mutation FoundA gene linked to living a very long life -- to 90 and beyond -- is also associated with short stature in women. Daughters of centenarians were 2.5 cm shorter than female controls. (Credit: iStockphoto/Alexander Raths) ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2008) — A gene linked to living a very long life -- to 90 and beyond -- is also associated with short stature in women, according to new research. Mutations in genes governing an important cell-signaling pathway influence human longevity, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have...

Gene Expression Differences Between Europeans And Africans Affect Response To Drugs, Infections ScienceDaily (Feb. 29, 2008) — Differences in gene expression levels between people of European versus African ancestry can affect how each group responds to certain drugs or fights off specific infections, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center and the Expression Research Laboratory at Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, CA. Researchers used Affymetrix exon arrays to show that expression levels for nearly five percent of the 9,156 human genes they studied varied significantly between individuals of European and African ancestry. The research team took an unbiased...

Most Detailed Global Study Of Genetic Variation CompletedA schematic of worldwide human genetic variation, with colors representing different genetic types. The figure illustrates the great amout of genetic variation in Africa. (Credit: Illustration by Martin Soave/University of Michigan) ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) — University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues at the National Institute on Aging have produced the largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation, a treasure trove offering new insights into early migrations out of Africa and across the globe. Like astronomers who build ever-larger telescopes to peer deeper into space, population geneticists like U-M's...

Gene studies confirm "out of Africa" theories By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two big genetic studies confirm theories that modern humans evolved in Africa and then migrated through Europe and Asia to reach the Pacific and Americas. The two studies also show that Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations. One of the studies shows European-Americans have more small mutations, while the others show Native Americans, Polynesians and others who populated Australia and Oceania have more big genetic changes. The studies, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, paint...

Gene Variants May Help To Distribute The Work Of Evolution Between Men And Women ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2008) — Scientists from deCODE genetics have discovered two common, single-letter variants in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs) that regulate one of the principle motors of evolution. Versions of the two SNPs, located on chromosome 4p16, have a genome-wide impact on the rate of recombination - the reshuffling of the genome that occurs in the formation of eggs and sperm. Recombination is largely responsible for generating human diversity, the novel configurations of the genome that enable the species to adapt and...

Drugs much more powerful than the resveratrol found in red wine will be tested to treat diabetes. A novel group of drugs that target a gene linked to longevity could provide a way to turn back the clock on the diseases of aging. The compounds are 1,000 times more potent than resveratrol, the molecule thought to underlie the health benefits of red wine, and have shown promise in treating rodent models of obesity and diabetes. Human clinical trials to test the compounds in diabetes are slated to begin early next year, according to Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, MA, which...

Contact: Anne Rueter arueter@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System 11-26-2007Gene study supports single main migration across Bering StraitSiberians and Native Americans share unique genetic variant The U-M study, which analyzed genetic data from 29 Native American populations, suggests a Siberian origin is much more likely than a South Asian or Polynesian origin. Did a relatively small number of people from Siberia who trekked across a Bering Strait land bridge some 12,000 years ago give rise to the native peoples of North and South America? Or did the ancestors of today’s native peoples come from other parts of Asia or...

Gene 'links breastfeeding to IQ' The government advises breastfeeding for first six months A single gene influences whether breastfeeding improves a child's intelligence, say London researchers. Children with one version of the FADS2 gene scored seven points higher in IQ tests if they were breastfed. But the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study found breastfeeding had no effect on the IQ of children with a different version. The gene in question helps break down fatty acids from the diet, which have been linked with brain development. Seven points difference is enough to put the child in the top...

The larger worm in the top image is a hermaphrodite -- a worm with male and female organs -- while the worm on the bottom is male. Biologists at the Brain Institute at the University of Utah genetically manipulated the brains of hermaphrodite worms so they were attracted to other worms of the same sex. The study showed sexual orientation is wired in the worms' brains. Credit: Jamie White, University of Utah University of Utah biologists genetically manipulated nematode worms so the animals were attracted to worms of the same sex – part of a study that shows sexual...

The Danish Council of Ethics has proposed a set of rules to deal with the prospective possibility that human and animal genes will be combined The first hybrid sheep-goat was created some 20 years ago, and science has since used cell and gene research to put a baboon heart into an infant and use other animal organs to save human lives. But where this technology will eventually lead to is of great concern to both the Danish Council of Ethics and the Council for Animal Ethics, who Tuesday presented their proposals for dealing with the unnerving prospect of combining human...

With China's National Day holidays out of the way, students in Taizhou, Jiangsu, are returning to their voluntary duties of collecting genetic data from the city's willing citizens. Volunteers and sample donors will contribute to what project organisers claim could become the world's largest genetic databank. Launched in June, it already holds samples from 10,000 people, only a minute proportion of the five million it aims to accumulate over the next decade. "This project will improve Taizhou in every respect, whilst also contributing to the development of China," declares Wang Jingsu, deputy director of Chinese Medical City (CMC), a quasi-governmental...

Double Helix Nebula Do you believe the root cause of human behavior is the result of an individual’s genetics or is behavior a product of an environment? Is there a gene that makes us ask, “why?” or is curiosity about interacting with our environment and having access to good answers? In determining the success or failure of an individual in their environment, we now know the “nature versus nurture” debate is bunk. The question is misleading. It implies the influence of nature can be isolated and subsequently separated from the influences of nurture. The entire purpose of the “nature...

Source: University of California - Santa Cruz Date: September 14, 2007 Extra Gene Copies Were Enough To Make Early Humans' Mouths Water Science Daily — To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That's one interpretation of a discovery, published online September 9 in Nature Genetics, which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene. A member of the Hadza tribe of Tanzania roasts basketball-sized tubers, the type of starchy food thought to have been a crucial addition to the diet of early humans. (Credit: Photo by N. Dominy) Humans have many more copies...

PARIS (AFP) - Scientists in France and Italy have deciphered the complete genetic code for the plant producing wine grapes, according to a study published Sunday. While the findings will do nothing to enhance the mystique of winemaking, they could pave the way for gene-based manipulations to boost flavour and improve resistance against disease. Dozens of researchers analyzing the Pinot Noir varietal of Vitis vinifera, the core species from which virtually all grape wine is made, found twice as many genes contributing to aroma than in other sequenced plants, suggesting that wine flavours could be traced to the genome level....

Insurance firms may use genetic information to increase premiums unfairly, a senior doctor has warned. Dr Richard Ashcroft, professor of biomedical ethics at the University of London, said there was a risk that people would be discriminated against on the basis of a poor understanding of genetics. The concerns come a day after scientists announced they had discovered a series of genes linked to common diseases affecting 20million Britons. Companies offering life, critical illness or health insurance say they should be able to use genetic information on these risks, otherwise more people than expected may claim and they would go...

Gene variant may be responsible for human learning 10:00 12 May 2007 NewScientist.com news service Humans have a unique variant of a gene linked with learning and memory. This may help explain how we rapidly cut loose in intellect and language from our closest relatives. The gene, KLK8, makes the protein neuropsin II, which in mice is vital for memory and learning. Bing Su and his colleagues at the Kunming Institute of Zoology in China had earlier demonstrated that neuropsin II is made by humans but not by lesser apes and old-world monkeys. Now they have shown that orang-utans and...

Science Daily — The human and chimpanzee genomes vary by just 1.2 percent, yet there is a considerable difference in the mental and linguistic capabilities between the two species. A new study showed that a certain form of neuropsin, a protein that plays a role in learning and memory, is expressed only in the central nervous systems of humans and that it originated less than 5 million years ago. The study, which also demonstrated the molecular mechanism that creates this novel protein, will be published online in Human Mutation, the official journal of the Human Genome Variation Society. Led by...

A BRITISH hospital has made the world's first attempt to treat blindness with a revolutionary gene therapy. Surgeons at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London operated on Robert Johnson, who was born with a rare sight disorder known as Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), which deteriorates with age. Mr Johnson, 23, who had genes inserted into one eye, could see only outlines during the day and very little at night before having the procedure yesterday. He is one of a dozen young patients selected for the first clinical trial to test the new therapy, which has already proved successful at restoring...

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS MEETING: European Skin Turned Pale Only Recently, Gene Suggests Ann Gibbons PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA--At the American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting, held here from 28 to 31 March, a new report on the evolution of a gene for skin color suggested that Europeans acquired pale skin quite recently, perhaps only 6000 to 12,000 years ago

A pill that can correct a wide range of faulty genes which cause crippling illnesses should be available within three years, promising a revolution in the treatment of thousands of conditions. The drug, known as PTC124, has already had encouraging results in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. The final phase of clinical trials is to begin this year, and it could be licensed as early as 2009. As well as offering hope of a first effective treatment for two conditions that are at present incurable, the drug has excited scientists because research suggests it should also work...

Source: University of Chicago Medical Center Date: April 22, 2007 Chimpanzees Are Actually Three Distinct Groups, Gene Study Shows Science Daily — The largest study to date of genetic variation among chimpanzees has found that the traditional, geography-based sorting of chimps into three populations--western, central and eastern--is underpinned by significant genetic differences, two to three times greater than the variation between the most different human populations. In the April 2007 issue of the journal PLOS Genetics, researchers from the University of Chicago, Harvard, the Broad Institute and Arizona State show that there has been very little detectable admixture between the...

Scientists find fatness gene By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:15am BST 13/04/2007 More than half of the population carries a gene that makes people more likely to pile on the pounds, scientists announce today. Half of English men and a third of women are classified as overweight They hope the discovery could eventually lead to treatments to help people lose excess weight they carry simply because of their genetic make-up. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other medical problems and is rising in prevalence in most western countries, where at...

Scientists in Germany said Thursday they have found compelling evidence of a genetic link to hyperactivity in children, identifying three mutations prevalent in fidgety youngsters. A research team led by Professor Johannes Hebebrand of the University of Duisburg-Essen in western Germany studied 329 families in which one child had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder syndrome. They found that a great majority -- around 70 percent -- had a combination of three mutations in the gene for the so-called dopamine transporter linked to hyperactivity. "People who have this combination in both copies of the gene have a 2.5 increased ADHD risk. People with...

The Agriculture Department has given a preliminary green light for the first commercial production of a food crop engineered to contain human genes, reigniting fears that biomedically potent substances in high-tech plants could escape and turn up in other foods. The plan, confirmed yesterday by the California biotechnology company leading the effort, calls for large-scale cultivation in Kansas of rice that produces human immune system proteins in its seeds. The proteins are to be extracted for use as an anti-diarrhea medicine and might be added to health foods such as yogurt and granola bars. "We can really help children with...

Why can some people eat whatever they want and never have heart problems and others just look at French fries and their cholesterol and risk jumps?Major research done in Southern California might produce the answer and a new way to prevent heart disease.NBC's Dr. Bruce Hensel said the answer may be a gene that protects the heart no matter how high your cholesterol. That finding was detailed in a documentary called "The Cure." The new work; using that gene to reverse heart problems is now being done at the Cleveland Clinic and in Los Angeles. It all started while studying...

University of Queensland Date: February 25, 2007 No Single Gene For Eye Color, Researchers Prove Science Daily — A study by researchers from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research is the first to prove conclusively that there is no single gene for eye colour. Says Dr. Rick Sturm, the IMB researcher who led the study: "... the model of eye colour inheritance using a single gene is insufficient to explain the range of eye colours that appear in humans. We believe instead that there are two major genes -- one...

SUNDAY, Feb. 18 (HealthDay News) -- The largest study of the genetics of autism ever conducted, involving DNA from almost 1,200 affected families worldwide, has already yielded two important clues to the poorly understood disorder, scientists say. Discoveries in two areas of the genome -- a region on chromosome 11 suspected of having links to autism, and aberrations in a brain-development gene called neurexin 1 -- could spur more targeted research, the experts noted. "That's the real promise here," said Autism Genome Project co-researcher Dr. Stephen Scherer, director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Hospital for Sick Children...

Source: University of Queensland Date: February 17, 2007 Bacterial Gene May Affect Climate And Weather Science Daily — A University of Queensland microbiologist is part of an international team that has identified a bacterial gene that may affect climate and weather. Dr Phil Bond, from UQ's Advanced Wastewater Management Centre, and his former colleagues at the University of East Anglia in England, have found how a particular type of marine bacteria – Marinomonas – generates a compound that is a key component in global sulfur and carbon cycles. “Marine algae can produce large amounts of a compound (dimethylsulfoniopropionate or DMSP)...

Native American populations share gene signature 00:01 14 February 2007 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi A distinctive, repeating sequence of DNA found in people living at the eastern edge of Russia is also widespread among Native Americans, according to a new study. The finding lends support to the idea that Native Americans descended from a common founding population that lived near the Bering land bridge for some time. Kari Schroeder at the University of California in Davis, US, and colleagues sampled the genes from various populations around the globe, including two at the eastern edge of Siberia, 53 elsewhere in...

Source: Columbia University Medical Center Date: January 15, 2007 New Gene Uncovered For Late-onset Alzheimer's; Findings Replicated In Four Different Ethnic Groups Science Daily — An international team of researchers, led by Columbia University Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine and the University of Toronto, has uncovered a major new gene – SORL1 – implicated in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Replicated in four distinct ethnic groups, SORL1 is only the second genetic variant for late-onset Alzheimer’s, the type of Alzheimer’s found in 90 percent of people with this devastating disease. ApoE4, the first, was identified in 1993. The green arrows...

Pakistani boy leads scientists to pain discovery By Patricia Reaney Wed Dec 13, 1:25 PM ET A young Pakistani street performer and members of three related families have enabled scientists to make a genetic breakthrough that could lead to more effective painkillers. During his short life, the unnamed boy never felt pain. He was a local celebrity in northern Pakistan where he astonished crowds by plunging knives through his arms and walking on burning coals. He died on his 14th birthday after jumping from a roof. By studying his case, and other individuals from families in the same clan, researchers...

Infertility - not assimilation or inadequate education - is perhaps the biggest obstacle to Jewish continuity, suggests Rabbi Elliot Dorff, rector and professor of philosophy at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.  “We are in a great demographic crisis,” says the Conservative rabbi, an expert in medical ethics. “We Jews are not even reproducing ourselves, let alone growing.”  Dorff understands how much education is required to take somebody born Jewish and transform that person into someone who knows a lot about Judaism and practices it. “But you can't educate someone who is not there,” he said in a phone...

Its history is marred by failures, false hopes, and even death, but for a number of the most horrendous human diseases, gene therapy still holds the promise of a cure. Now, for the first time, there is reason to believe that it is actually working. Part I: By the late 1960s, molecular biologists had erected an overarching explanation of how genes work--their substance, their structure, their replication, their expression, their regulation or control. Or at least they had done so in outline, for prokaryotes, the simplest single-celled organisms (which include bacteria), and for the viruses, called bacteriophages, that prey upon...