A study coordinated by researcher Manel Esteller, from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), has identified a substance that inhibits cancer growth by activating the so-called "dark genome" and micro-RNA molecules. The work is published this week in PNAS magazine.
An international team of scientists, with Spanish participation, has sequenced the DNA of the Sumatran orangutan ('Pongo abelii'). Subsequent sequencing of another five Sumatran and five Bornean orangutans ('Pongo pygmaeus') has shed light on the evolution of great apes and demonstrates the great genetic diversity of these species.
The progress of aging could be monitored by measuring lactic acid levels in the brain, according to a study by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden) published in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' (PNAS).
The international consortium of the "1000 Genomes Project" has just published "the first large-scale inventory of human genetic diversity", which identifies 95% of the most common genetic variations in the world population. Knowing the genetic differences between individuals will help explain why some people are at higher risk than others of developing diseases such as diabetes or cancer.
The extraordinary height of Pau Gasol (2.15 meters) or the actor Tim Robbins (1.96) does not depend on a single gene. The number of genetic variants that affect human stature amounts to more than a thousand, according to an international study published in the journal 'Nature'.
Ten years after the discovery of the human genome sequence, 69 percent of the scientists consulted by the journal Nature have confessed that the finding inspired them to dedicate themselves to science or to change the course of what they were investigating.
A team led by Craig Venter, father of the human genome, has managed to manufacture an artificial cell entirely in the laboratory. The finding, reported today in the journal Science, marks the official beginning of the so-called synthetic biology and opens the way to the design of microorganisms "on demand", whose DNA can be modified in theory to incorporate the properties that scientists want.
Danni Büchner is invited to Sam Dylan's Halloween party. But the "Goodbye Germany" emigrant has no desire for many other party guests. And find clear words.
