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Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2013 9:47 am
by cactuspete
5 Genetic Discoveries in 2013 :smart:
All sorts of new information about how genes and which genes have an impact on our health. Fascinating stuff! There will probably be a lot of this kind of information released in the upcoming year, years, decades, etc.
:thumb:

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 7:07 pm
by a2z
Researchers Construct Entire Human Faces From DNA Samples
This is pretty cool. Researchers identified 76 genes which have the most influence on facial structure and are able to predict what a person's face looks like based on which allele a person has for each of these genes. Obviously factors such as obesity and other environmental factors might throw things off a bit, but this is still pretty neat!
:prof:

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:32 am
by cactuspete
A2Z: Nice post! Good point about environmental factors. And then there are epigentic factors that may be relevant too. But either way the likelihood is high that 90 percent of the equation is accounted for by genetics.

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Sat May 03, 2014 10:35 am
by wildrose
Parent's Diet, Environment Just Before Pregnancy Can Change Future Baby's Genes
Epigenetics is fascinating stuff. The details can get a bit complicated, but the implications are extremely important and so more research needs to be done on this interesting topic!
This on-and-off switch is controlled by decorating the DNA with a special tag, called methylation. How much the six genes got tagged in the developing embryo depended on the levels of a few micronutrients in the mom's blood at the time of conception, Prentice and his team found. The team examined several B vitamins and nutrients associated with them. They couldn't pinpoint exactly which ones were most important. But in general, when several of these nutrients, including vitamin B2, were at lower levels in mom's blood, the six genes had less methylation.

LINK: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/04/29/307787984/moms-diet-right-before-pregnancy-can-alter-babys-genes

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Sun May 04, 2014 12:36 pm
by surfsteve
There's a lot of scientific evidence that we can turn on and off theses genetic switches with our minds. This is accomplished through belief and the power of both positive and negative thinking.

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:52 am
by hungrybill
SPONSORED: Groundbreaking Video Game Lets Players Customize Characters' Genetic Code
This may just be a joke, BUT eventually there will be genetic simulation software and I'm sure that people will find it fascinating!

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 11:20 am
by wildrose
How Exercise Changes Our DNA
The person who wrote this article quickly explains that the title is a little bit misleading:
Enter epigenetics, a process by which the operation of genes is changed, but not the DNA itself. Epigenetic changes occur on the outside of the gene, mainly through a process called methylation. In methylation, clusters of atoms, called methyl groups, attach to the outside of a gene like microscopic mollusks and make the gene more or less able to receive and respond to biochemical signals from the body. Scientists know that methylation patterns change in response to lifestyle. Eating certain diets or being exposed to pollutants, for instance, can change methylation patterns on some of the genes in our DNA and affect what proteins those genes express. Depending on which genes are involved, it may also affect our health and risk for disease.

LINK: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/how-exercise-changes-our-dna/?_r=0

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 2:16 pm
by surfsteve
I've only recently began studying the methylation cycle. It goes in harmony with everything else I know so I consider it to be legitimate science. From what I know about it most of the defects people have with their methylation cycles can be corrected nutritionally through proper forms of vitamins minerals and foods. The problem I think is that most foods are grown in soils that can not supply enough nutrients and most forms of vitamins and minerals sold do more harm than good unless you are extremely malnourished. I think much of the craving for drugs, alcohol and empty calories is because they falsely fill that void. Exercise is good but unless you eat right and supplement properly you probably wont be able to do a whole lot more than you are all ready doing without harming yourself.

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:52 am
by tronagirl
Why Do We All Have Different Hair? :prof:
This is an interesting explanation for all that hair us humans have all over our bodies.

Re: Genetic Discoveries

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 9:17 am
by surfsteve
A lot of philosophers claim that hair being longer on humans heads points to the fact that humans didn't evolve from apes but rather were genetically manipulated by extraterrestrial ancestors. They also throw in the fact that though humans are far more complex, they actually have two less pairs of chromosomes than apes.