ADN

Every human being has between 100 and 200 accumulated mutations in their DNA, most of which are harmless and have no obvious effects on health or physical appearance, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology.

A team of American and Korean scientists have sequenced the entire genetic map of a Korean citizen, who they have named AK1 to preserve his anonymity. This is the fifth human genome sequenced to date.

What do man's best friend and the giant panda bear (Ailuropoda melanoleura) have in common? A lot, as suggested by a study by the Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzen (China) that has just sequenced panda DNA.

If Michael Crichton raised his head, he would be in for a pleasant surprise. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have developed a technique that allows ancient DNA to be extracted from a small insect while its fossil remains intact.

In 1984 Alec Jeffreys discovered the genetic fingerprint in his laboratory at the University of Leicester and turned it into a universal identification method. Now, researchers from the same university say that by analyzing DNA it is possible to find out our surnames.

Every day that passes we are a little older, of that there is no doubt. But how much? Scientists from the German Max Planck Institute have just identified a group of proteins that allows us to know the true biological age of an individual.

Both environmental and genetic factors shape the physiognomy of any living being, and this is no exception for trees.

"Knowing ancient DNA helps to rebuild the tree of life" Born in Barcelona in 1965, Carles Lalueza-Fox received his doctorate in Biology from the University of Barcelona and completed his training with expert anthropologists from Oxford and Cambridge. In 2001, the quality of his work took him to Reykjavik, Iceland, where he worked for DeCode Genetics in the study of genetic diseases of the population of that country. He has recovered with his team the DNA of the great extinct bird moa and of our Cro-Magnon ancestor.