July 7, 2010
[Update: This study was formally retracted by Science on July 22, 2011] A genome-wide association study of extreme longevity published last week in the journal Science has been receiving a lot of press attention. The results are quite extraordinary: the authors identify 70 loci with genome-wide [...]
October 9, 2009
A segment of chromosome 14 folded to reveal a fractal curve using Origami. Designed and folded by Jason Ku. Photo by Erik Demaine. How do you get three billion pairs of As, Cs, Ts and Gs—about six feet worth of DNA—into the nucleus of a tiny cell? Most students of biology would answer by saying [...]
August 16, 2008
The following post is by Esther Dyson, a director at 23andMe and investor in numerous private aviation, space and health care ventures, including PatientsLikeMe. Last weekend I attended Science Foo Camp, a sort of grown-up summer camp for scientists sponsored by Google (an investor in 23andMe), Nature [...]
June 6, 2008
If you could only do one thing to this sentence, what would it be? Can you explain why there's no gene for Crohn's disease? If you know the answers to these questions, we want you to know this: 23andMe is looking to hire an editor who is adept with scientific copy and concepts. The Science Editor will [...]
March 28, 2008
Genome-wide association studies, which are the source for most of the data 23andMe uses in Gene Journal (now called Health and Traits) entries, are based on the “common disease-common allele model” – the idea that many illnesses, even relatively rare ones, can be caused by combinations of genetic [...]
February 21, 2008
If you take two members of the human race at random and ask how much their genomes differ, you'll get a surprising answer: they're almost identical. On average, for every 1,000 DNA bases you have, 999 or so of them are exactly the same between you and your neighbor – and for that matter, between you and [...]
January 31, 2008
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide [...]
