Parental demand for ‘designer babies screened to lack faulty genes will grow dramatically over the next decade, with new discoveries about the influence of DNA on health, a leading geneticist has predicted. As science learns more about the genetic roots of disease, couples will increasingly seek DNA tests on their embryos when starting a family, according to David Goldstein, of Duke University in North Carolina. By 2020, researchers will have discovered many more genetic variations that substantially raise the risk of common conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and psychiatric disorders, and it will be possible to detect these in embryos, he said. This will feed much wider interest in embryo screening, which is currently used by only a few dozen couples each year, and encourage fresh controversy over the ethics of designer babies. Writing in the journal Nature, Dr Goldstein said that his expectations about the speed at which genetics would advance had led him to make a ‘confident but uncomfortable prediction about the future of screening. ‘The identification of major risk factors for disease is bound to substantially increase interest in embryonic and other screening programmes, he said. ‘Society has largely already accepted this […]
The widespread view of Neanderthals as cognitively inferior to early modern humans is challenged by new research from the University of Bristol published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Joao Zilhao and colleagues examined pigment-stained and perforated marine shells, most certainly used as neck pendants, from two Neanderthal-associated sites in the Murcia province of south-east Spain (Cueva de los Aviones and Cueva Anton). The analysis of lumps of red and yellow pigments found alongside suggest they were used in cosmetics. The practice of body ornamentation is widely accepted by archaeologists as conclusive evidence for modern behaviour and symbolic thinking among early modern humans but has not been recognised in Neanderthals – until now. Professor Zilhao said: ‘This is the first secure evidence that, some 50,000 years ago – ten millennia before modern humans are first recorded in Europe – the behaviour of Neanderthals was symbolically organised.’ A Spondylus gaederopus shell from the same site contained residues of a reddish pigmentatious mass made of lepidocrocite mixed with ground bits of hematite and pyrite (which, when fresh, have a brilliant black, reflective appearance), suggesting the kind of inclusion ‘for effect’ that one would expect in […]
Scientists have discovered the earliest known Hebrew writing - an inscription dating from the 10th century B.C., during the period of King David’s reign. The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible’s Old Testament is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of Hebrew.) Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older, scientists announced this month. ‘It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research,’ said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text. BCE stands for ‘before common era,’ and is equivalent to B.C., or before Christ. The writing was discovered more than a year ago on a pottery shard dug up during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, near Israel’s Elah valley. The excavations were […]
Drinking green tea may offer some protection against lung cancer, say experts who studied the disease at a medical university in Taiwan. The latest work in more than 500 people adds to growing evidence suggesting the beverage has anti-cancer powers. In the study, smokers and non-smokers who drank at least a cup a day cut their lung cancer risk significantly, a US cancer research conference heard. The protection was greatest for people carrying certain genes. But cancer experts said the findings did not change the fact that smoking is bad for health. Daily cuppa Green tea is made from the dried leaves of the Asian plant Camellia sinesis and is drunk widely across Asia. The rates of many cancers are much lower in Asia than other parts of the world, which has led some to link the two. Laboratory studies have shown that extracts from green tea, called polyphenols, can stop cancer cells from growing. But results from human studies have been mixed. Some have shown a protective effect while others have failed to find any evidence of protection. In July 2009, the Oxford-based research group Cochrane published a review […]
WASHINGTON - Eight years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have etched indelible scars on the psyches of many of the nation’s servicemen and women, and the U.S. military is losing a battle to stem an epidemic of suicides in its ranks. Despite calls by top Pentagon officials for a sea change in attitudes about mental health, millions of dollars in new suicide prevention programming and thousands of hours spent helping soldiers suffering from what often are euphemistically dubbed ‘invisible wounds,’ the military is losing ground. The Department of Defense Friday reported that there were 160 reported active-duty Army suicides in 2009, up from 140 in 2008. Of these, 114 have been confirmed, while the manner of death in the remaining 46 remains to be determined. ‘There’s no question that 2009 was a painful year for the Army when it came to suicides,’ said Col. Christopher Philbrick, the deputy director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force, in a statement, despite what he called ‘wide-ranging measures last year to confront the problem.’ While the military’s suicide rate is comparable to civilian rates, the increase last year is alarming because the armed services traditionally had lower suicide […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
