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It was late in 1972 — a year in which the science of genetic engineering really began to sizzle — that two California researchers announced the unusually tidy transfer of genetic information from one bacterium to another with help from a specialized enzyme. It was a scientifically heralded result, but behind the hoopla was just one small catch. The information transferred enabled a common human disease bacterium, E. coli, to resist not just one antibiotic, but two. “Alarm bells should have rung,” writes Matthew Cobb, in his deeply researched and often deeply troubling history of gene science. And that nothing...

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Wednesday prompted by a decade-long CBS News California investigation into California's newborn genetic biobank. We still won't know who is using your DNA for research, or what the research is for, but the California Department of Public Health must now reveal the number of newborn DNA samples that California is storing and the number of DNA samples that the state sells to researchers each year. In response to our decade-long investigation, lawmakers introduced several bills this year that were intended to shed light on how the state is amassing and using California's newborn DNA...

Researchers have discovered a "spatial grammar" in DNA that redefines the role of transcription factors in gene regulation, influencing our understanding of genetic variations and disease.A recently uncovered code within DNA, referred to as "spatial grammar," may unlock the secret to how gene activity is encoded in the human genome.This breakthrough finding, identified by researchers at Washington State University and the University of California, San Diego and published in Nature, revealed a long-postulated hidden spatial grammar embedded in DNA. The research could reshape scientists' understanding of gene regulation and how genetic variations may influence gene expression in development or disease...Transcription...

The recent election of George Galloway in the UK is another chapter in the career of this fascinating politician, famous the world over for appealing to Muslim voters wherever he goes.

An interesting article popped up in the journal Nature last week and I wanted to bring it to your attention despite the fact that some of the science involved goes well over my head. It deals with an ongoing study in the field of human genetics and the title should give you a good indication of where this topic is heading. It's called "‘All of Us’ genetics chart stirs unease over controversial depiction of race." The project involves collecting DNA samples from a diverse group of one million Americans and collating the results to identify patterns. The paper includes a...

Congress is closing in on an effective ban of a China-based genomics company accused of stealing Americans' DNA and exploiting Covid to collect genetic data. The Beijing Genomics Institute, now known as BGI Group, is one of the largest genomic sequencing companies in the world and is listed by the Pentagon as a 'Chinese military company.' Republicans in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress' must-pass legislation that sets military policy for the year, launched an effort to ban the firm from doing business with any company that takes U.S. government contracts in what could be a major jolt to...

It was summer 2020 and John Hollis, a publicist at George Mason University, was asking a scientist about his research on COVID-19 antibodies, when the scientist turned the tables. The scientist, Lance Liotta, asked his own question: Would Hollis like to join the study as a subject? Less than a week later, Liotta was standing with his staff fixated on the computer screen of his lab assistant, marveling at the numbers representing Hollis’s blood sample. Liotta marched back to his office to call Hollis. “He says, ‘Are you sitting down?’” Hollis recalls. “‘Because not only did you have COVID, and...

Farmers across the world are desperate to grow genetically modified crops (GM) in their fields. So much so that in some countries farmers have bypassed existing bans on these crops and even made harvests from them. Why do farmers risk being prosecuted, and what compels them to grow GM food crops? The answer is straightforward: GM crops give higher yields, are resilient to deadly plant diseases, and can withstand tough environmental conditions. Optimum Environmental Conditions Meet Advancement in Science Conditions for food crops around the world are the best in all of human history. Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and warmer...

Mendel had a history of run-ins with the state.Two hundred years ago in July, Johann Mendel was born. He would come to be known as Gregor (the religious name he received upon entering the Augustinian Friars at St. Thomas' Abbey in Austria-Hungary) and later as the "father of modern genetics." Mendel studied math, physics, and eventually botany in school. While conducting experiments with hybridized pea plants in the monastery garden and greenhouse, he discovered the principles of heredity. His process involved carefully tracking various traits, such as pod shape and plant height. From those observations, he developed a theory involving...

“When we’re modifying the genome of an organism we can put our signature, our name, into the genome.” – “What is God? God creates. Well, we can create now.” – “We deserve to be credited for our work. We have lobbyists in politics and the courts to make sure the patenting and owning of parts of the human genome continues.” Not word for word but, these are recollections by Dr. Carrie Madej of remarks made by Dr. Craig Venter of the Human Genome Project during a speech in 2014. Dr. Venter also talked about how vaccines could be useful to...

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used COVID-19 for biological warfare, according to a new report by nine experts with the Center for Security Policy (CSP). Generals, medical experts, and foreign policy experts including former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Lieutenant General William “Jerry” Boykin contributed to the report, which is available in book form on Amazon. The report, titled “The CCP is at War with America,” stated that there is no evidence COVID-19 was a natural virus, arguing that there is significant evidence it came from a CCP lab. It also stated...

Georgia State University scientists have created gene-edited hamsters for studies of social neuroscience and have found that the biology behind social behavior may be more complex than previously thought. A team of Georgia State University researchers led by Regents' Professor of Neuroscience H. Elliott Albers and Distinguished University Professor Kim Huhman used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to eliminate the actions of a neurochemical signaling pathway that plays a critical role in regulating social behaviors in mammals. Vasopressin and the receptor that it acts on called Avpr1a regulates social phenomena ranging from pair bonding, cooperation, and social communication to dominance and aggression. The...

New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. Scientists have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6,000-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today "Originally, we all had brown eyes," said Professor Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. "But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a "switch," which literally "turned off" the ability to produce brown eyes." The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is...

When the Human Genome Project was declared completed in 2003, it had mapped 92% of genes, with the rest remaining a mystery for nearly two decades due to technological limitations. Now, scientists have finished sequencing the other 8%, and the human genome has finally been fully sequenced. Almost 100 scientists from the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium collaborated on the project to map the entire human genome. The additional 8% that was sequenced accounts for 400 million new letters added to the existing sequenced DNA -- enough for an entire chromosome, as CNN reported. The additional genes are very important for adaptation,...

A bill addressing law enforcements use of genetic genealogy DNA databases like GEDmatch and Ancestry failed to pass the Utah House of Representatives late last week amid concerns it was not specific enough to prevent police “fishing expeditions.” The bill would have been the third in the nation to specifically address the use of third-party genetic genealogy databases in police investigations. House Bill 340 “Forensic DNA Privacy Amendments” was sponsored by Rep. Steve Eliason (R-Sandy), and was presented during a House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee in mid-February with the support of Greg Miller, CEO of the Larry H....

Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune (1926 – 1994)Bioethics is one of the few academic disciplines and professions that does not have a patron saint. We at The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) think this may change soon. Jérôme Lejeune, a French medical doctor and world class geneticist, was recently declared venerable — the first step on the road to canonization, by the Church. He led a remarkable life that began with scientific break-through discoveries and continued with decades of faithful work defending the right to life of human embryos and preborn children.It is remarkable to me that the Vatican declaration...

Sugar may actually be healthy for some Greenland residents, a study finds. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen found that up to three percent of Greenlanders may have a rare genetic mutation that allows their body to process sugar in a way that is healthy. Since many people in Greenland come from gene pools that have consumed little sugar at all for centuries, their body has adjusted to consume sugar in a different way. Those who have the mutation are less likely to become obese, or suffer from a wide range of health problems generally tied to being overweight. 'Adult...

(CNN)Since their discovery, the ancestry of hundreds of mummified bodies buried in boats in an inhospitable desert region of northwest China has puzzled and divided archaeologists.... Their Western looks; felted and woven wool clothing; and the cheese, wheat and millet found in their unusual graves suggested they were long-disticance herders.... However, a new study by Chinese, European and American researchers that analyzed the DNA of these 13 mummies, sequencing their genomes for the first time, has painted a different picture. Their analysis suggested that the remains did not belong to newcomers but a local group descended from an ancient ice...

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center said American companies needed to better secure critical technologies as Beijing seeks to dominate the so-called bioeconomy. BETHESDA, Md. — Chinese firms are collecting genetic data from around the world, part of an effort by the Chinese government and companies to develop the world’s largest bio-database, American intelligence officials reported on Friday. The National Counterintelligence and Security Center said in a new paper that the United States needed to better secure critical technologies including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and other technologies related to the so-called bioeconomy. China and other countries are trying to...

[H/T ExTexasRedhead and Jane Long]In January 2019, the WHO defined the growing number of vaccination critics as one of the top ten threats to global health, and since the unprecedented Corona vaccination fiasco, the number of vaccination refusers has truly multiplied.Meanwhile, resistance is forming even within the orthodox medical establishment. But the masterminds of the WHO continue to insist on an unrealistic vaccination coverage rate of at least 70 percent.In this article, Jan Walter describes, with extensive source citations, which techniques are possible to still vaccinate the population, when people are becoming increasingly critical of vaccinations. This is only fueled...