brain

In two recent reports , Parkinson’s researchers describe findings that may lead to new ways of detecting early signs of the disease and a potential new treatment. In the first...

If you have a big head, you may be subjected to a fair bit of teasing, but science may offer you some consolation. People with smaller heads may be at risk for dementia and other cognitive and mental illnesses. Now, scientists have found associations between common genetic variants and measures of head and brain size.

From your toenails to your hair follicles, every cell in your body contains identical genetic information. But as new research from the University of Edinburgh shows, reality is a little more complicated. DNA in one brain cell can be different from DNA in other brain cells, and from DNA in other tissues, due to the activity of genetic elements called retrotransposons. These elements may play significant roles in human health and cognition depending on where in the DNA and in the brain they are active.

By Bethann Hromatka, Ph.D.Your iris (the colored part of the eye) can tell a lot about you. Like your fingerprint, the patterns on your iris are complex and unique. Because...

An aneurysm occurs when the wall of a blood vessel weakens and balloons outward, making the blood vessel abnormally large. The larger the vessel becomes, the greater the risk of...

Even if you do everything right — exercise, healthy eating, no smoking– whether or not you’ll make it to the century mark depends to some extent on your genes. One...

Despite years of effort and millions of dollars in research funding, only one gene, APOE, has been conclusively associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk so far.   But now the results...

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...

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...