Science & Medicine
Here we bring you the latest on all things science from physical science, evolution, astronomy, space, physics, chemistry, and medicine.
Powerful New DNA Editing Method Raises Hopes for Cures
By University of Texas at Austin – SciTechDaily
Researchers created a highly efficient gene-editing method that fixes multiple DNA mutations in a single step.
The breakthrough could revolutionize genetic medicine by making treatments for complex diseases faster and more inclusive.
The Challenge of Treating Complex Genetic Diseases: Some genetic disorders—such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, and Tay Sachs disease—involve multiple mutations across a person’s genome. The number and type of mutations can differ widely, even among people diagnosed with the same condition. This variation makes it difficult to design gene therapies that work for large groups of patients instead of only those with specific mutations.
New Gene Editing Approach Developed at UT Austin: Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have created an enhanced gene-editing technique that offers greater precision and higher efficiency than earlier methods. This approach can correct numerous disease-related mutations at…Read more here.
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A long-overlooked weak point in your DNA has just been revealed
Center for Genomic Regulation / ScienceDaily
Researchers have pinpointed specific areas of the human genome that are unusually susceptible to genetic changes. These altered segments can be inherited by future generations and have important implications for how scientists investigate genetics and disease.
The vulnerable regions sit at the beginning of genes, known as transcription start sites. These are the points where the cell begins copying DNA into RNA. According to a study published on November 26 in Nature Communications, the first 100 base pairs after this starting point experience mutations at a rate 35% higher than expected by chance.
“These sequences are extremely prone to mutations and rank among the most functionally important regions in the entire human genome, together with protein-coding sequences,” explains Dr. Donate Weghorn, corresponding author of the study and researcher at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona.
Early Development and Mosaic Mutations… The research team discovered that many of…Read more here.
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Scientists Spot Hidden Water Ice on Mars: A Game-Changer for Human Missions
By University of Mississippi – SciTechDaily
Near-surface water ice could supply essential resources for future human exploration on the Red Planet.
Before sending people on the long trip to another world, mission planners must determine a safe and practical landing location. Recent work by a researcher at the University of Mississippi may help identify a promising spot on Mars.
Erica Luzzi, a planetary geologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute, led a study that uncovered signs of water ice lying just beneath the Martian surface. The results, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, suggest a valuable resource that future astronauts could rely on.
“If we’re going to send humans to Mars, you need H2O and not just for drinking, but for propellant and all manner of applications,” Luzzi said. She completed the research as a part of…Read more here.
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A foot fossil suggests a second early human relative lived alongside Lucy
Jay Nennett / SciemceNews
In 2009, Yohannes Haile-Selassie and his team were combing the desert landscape of Burtele, a paleontological site in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, when Stephanie Melillo found something remarkable: an ancient, humanlike foot bone.
“It was half of the fourth metatarsal ray,” says Haile-Selassie, a paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, referring to the bone that connects to the fourth toe. “When she came over and showed it to me, I just told her, go back, the other half should be there.”
Sure enough, Melillo, a graduate student at the time, found the other half. “That’s when I decided, okay, we’re going to have to crawl this area,” Haile-Selassie says.
Searching on hands and knees, the team ultimately discovered eight pieces of a partial forefoot from about 3.4 million years ago. Called the Burtele foot, the team concluded that the fossils were not from Australopithecus afarensis, an early human relative from the same time and place best known for the famous fossil skeleton Lucy.
Now Haile-Selassie and his team have gathered additional fossils from the Afar Region…Read more here.
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