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Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
by Josh Clark | December 13, 2011
If you were to be diagnosed with the condition known as maple syrup urine disease you may think that you’ve hit the medical jackpot: All the free maple syrup you can drink at your disposal almost anytime. But you would be wrong, friend. Despite its quasi-pleasant name, MSUD — that actually is the medical term [...]
I learned of a new disorder the other day, via a tweet from SYSK listener (@SteveNovak), called mirror dystonia. Since researching the mirror neurons episode, I’ve become aware of just how much of a role mirror neurons play in allowing us to not bump one another off in order to get our hands on the last cupcake (and other things, of course).
I’m left-handed. So is Prince William. As a young girl with tween dreams of becoming Kate Middleton with an American accent, I thought it was a special bond between us. And statistically speaking, it is a rather uncommon commonality.
It’s apparently rocker week here at the SYSK blog. First was Jim Morrison, now it’s Bowie’s turn. Quigley’s Cabinet has a cool post on heterochromia iridum, the condition of having a pair of eyes with two differently colored irises. The Australian shepherd dog breed has features the condition, and apparently so too does David Bowie.His is from an injury after he took a punch to the eye in from a friend with a ring.
Let’s Put the ‘Slut Gene’ to Bed Already
by Cristen Conger | December 16, 2010
Science doesn’t get much sexier than this. Researchers at Binghamton University in New York have supposedly identified a ‘slut gene’. People with a particular genetic variation of dopamine receptor DRD4 may be more inclined to hop into the sack with a stranger or cheat on a partner. Scandalous!
Sort of.
Genetic Fruit Salad Sorts Apple Bellies from Pear Hips
by Cristen Conger | October 11, 2010
A UK obesity study (via BBC) has identified 13 genetic variations that influence whether silhouettes resemble bigger bellied apples or hip-heavy pears. Body fat distribution appears to be regulated by genetic factors we inherit, which helps explain why some people are more prone to obesity than others. The researchers were particularly interested in the biology [...]
Leigh cuts my hair. She cuts all of the kids’s hair too. She has been doing this for more than 10 years. It started because one day we were at a K-mart and they had a bunch of remaindered books on a table for a quarter each. One of the books was “How to cut [...]
It seems pretty sensible that the Columbia University epidemiologists conducting a recent study on biological markers of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder would travel to Detroit to find their sample population. Again, to quickly find 100 participants suffering from PTSD for their study, researchers from New York went to Detroit.
After ferreting out the people who’d had experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, but didn’t meet the six criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, the Columbia researchers took blood samples from 23 people they determined had PTSD. What they found is another mark in favor of epigenetics, a subbranch of genetics that’s lending a lot of substantial credence to the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate.
There’s a point to publishing negative scientific findings, Ars Technica’s John Timmer pointed out recently. Without them, other researchers’ time and effort may be wasted. Part of the reason for sharing data is not just to shed light on new avenues, but to illuminate dead ends. The scientific community is meant to work as a [...]
There is a race afoot among blue chip IBM and a number of smaller start-ups to reach the $1,000 mark for sequencing individual DNA. Ever since the Human Genome Project completed its work in 2001, the quest to read a single person’s genetic code went from a possibility to a reality. The reality cost the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, France and China conglomerate a cool $1 billion, however. You have a billion dollars lying around to have your genetic make up sequenced? Me either. Do you want to have your personal genetic code cracked? Probably. Maybe. I don’t know either.
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