Genetic experiments show hatchery escapees that breed with wild fish have fewer offspring. Every spring, hatcheries in Alaska release more than a billion year-old pink and chum salmon. The fish spend a year out at sea growing up, before they return to be caught by the state’s fishing fleet. At least, that’s how it’s supposed […]
genetics
How one Canadian scientist is tapping into the knowledge of Indigenous communities
Jean Polfus found her research was strengthened by bringing more voices to the table. Jean Polfus, a postdoctoral fellow at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, studies the distribution and spatial organization of caribou (or reindeer; Rangifer tarandus) populations in the Sahtú region of the Northwest Territories. She explains how she collaborates with members of the Dene […]
Deportations on the back of consumer genetic tests worry scientists
Canada’s border enforcement agency appears to be using genetic tests and DNA ancestry sites to determine country of origin for would-be deportees. Geneticists in Canada are raising concerns about the apparent use of direct-to-consumer genetic tests and ancestry websites by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to help determine the country of origin for people […]
Shrinking Protected Areas Can Hurt Genetic Diversity
Populations with a variety of genes can help a species adapt to threats like diseases and climate change. Protected areas like national parks and national monuments provide a refuge for not just a wide array of different species, but for a diversity of genes within those species, according to new research. The Trump Administration’s plan […]
Genome editing in human embryos inches closer to the clinic
On Aug 2, Nature published a study in which US-based researchers successfully edited the genome of a human embryo using the CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-CRISPR-associated protein 9) system to correct a genetic defect implicated in a potentially fatal heart condition. Although this is not the first time CRISPR has been used for genome editing in […]
Seven scientists win the 2017 Gairdner Awards
Seven researchers have each been awarded a 2017 Gairdner Award for seminal work in areas including child nutrition and treatment for cardiovascular disease. Cesar Victora, an epidemiologist at the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil, has won the 2017 John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award for his work on maternal and child health in […]
Chimps and bonobos interbred and exchanged genes
Chimpanzees and their relatives bonobos are closer than we thought. Bonobos seem to have donated genes to chimps at least twice in the roughly two million years since they last shared an ancestor. The two closely related apes have occasionally interbred in captivity, and bonobos are renowned for their free and easy sex life. But […]
Smallest perching bird’s long-lost family revealed by genetics
The pygmy bushtit’s diminutive size makes it a superlative species, and it has a genus all to itself. But now genetics is showing that it’s not so special after all. The pygmy bushtit isn’t much to look at. It’s an inconspicuous dull grey, but it is absolutely tiny. So small in fact, that it is […]
UCL geneticist faces questions over image duplication
An ongoing investigation by University College London, UK, has found problems with eight papers by renowned British geneticist David Latchman. An internal university investigation of work by David Latchman, a well known professor of genetics at University College London (UCL) and the Master of Birkbeck College, UK, has resulted in at least one retraction and […]
Lasker Foundation announces 2014 award winners
Five researchers have been honoured for their clinical and basic science research, including the scientists who developed deep brain stimulation for neuromotor diseases. Read more in The Lancet.