Now on ScienceBlogs: The 1/6th People
Commentary on human genetics and evolution, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, and the personal genomics industry.
Daniel MacArthur
I write about the genetic and evolutionary basis of human variation, and the companies trying to sell you information about your genome.
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Category: genome-wide association studies
Personal genomics company 23andMe announced novel genetic associations with hair curl at the recent ASHG meeting - but these findings have now been scooped by a publication from an academic consortium.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 7:15 PM • 18 Comments •
Category: ashg2009
Personal genomics company 23andMe presented today at the American Society of Human Genetics meeting on novel genetic associations generated by the company using data from their customer base. The presentation showed that the company is capable of doing solid science, although it also raised worrying questions about the validity of survey results from customers who've already seen their genetic data.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 5:30 AM • 10 Comments •
Category: genetics of intelligence
A Chinese summer camp is offering parents the opportunity to spend $880 on genetic tests purporting to predict their child's athleticism, intelligence and personality.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 12:00 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: genome-wide association studies
A large Korean study takes a detailed look at the genetic variants associated with 8 different complex traits - and provides an intriguing insight into the differences in the genetic architecture of variable traits between human populations.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: genetics of gene expression
GenomeWeb Daily News points to a new funding opportunity from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for researchers interested in studying the link between genetic variants and variation in the expression levels of genes.This is an incredibly important area...
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 6:30 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: gene-environment interactions
Neuroscientists Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt have a guest post on Olivia Judson's NY Times blog discussing the complex interplay between genes and environment in the determination of personality traits. A taste:So some of the effects that we call "genetic"...
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 8:45 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: race
The debate over the validity of research into racial differences in intelligence continues in the Correspondence section of the latest issue of Nature.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 9:45 AM • 7 Comments •
Category: genetics of normal variation
A recent study shows that genetic information is sufficient to generate extremely accurate predictions of eye colour - predictions that will prove useful in forensic applications, and potentially may be used by parents for "cosmetic" screening of IVF embryos.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 1:15 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: genetics of normal variation
A recent paper shows that, despite massive genome-wide association studies, height predictions using known genetic markers are still far less accurate than those using parental height alone.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 7:30 AM • 21 Comments •
Category: genetics of normal variation
Researchers are studying the genetic basis of variation in face shape - raising the possibility of predicting faces from DNA, either for forensic work or (more controversially) for IVF embryos via pre-implantation genetic testing.
Posted by Daniel MacArthur at 9:00 AM • 4 Comments •
PZ Myers 11.23.2009
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
Tim Lambert 11.22.2009
Ed Brayton 11.23.2009
Ed Brayton 11.23.2009
