It's nice to see a review of some science that neither dumbs it down nor over technifies it. Ars Technica reviews the lactose tolerance gene evolution in African populations.
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Early man 'couldn't stomach milk'
Working with scientists from Mainz University in Germany, the UCL team looked for the gene that produces the lactase enzyme in Neolithic skeletons dating between 5480BC and 5000BC.
These are believed to be from some of the earliest farming communities in Europe.…
The story of lactose tolerance evolving multiple times has blown up a bit, thanks to Nick Wade at The New York Times. Some people are making analogies to light skin evolving via different genetic architectures (remember, skin color is a polygenic trait, albeit dispersed over ~4 loci of large…
A few weeks ago I presented a tentative model for how lactose tolerance (the ability of adults to digest milk easily and efficiently) spread throughout the world. Here is what I offered:
1) A haplotype block, A, associated with the LCT gene, and a particular SNP on that block, -13910*T, is…
We'll start with the science, cruise through J school, and end with healthcare reform or bust.
Genetic material
Willful ignorance is not an effective argument against personal genomics : Genetic Future Mr. McDonald spanks the frightened.
The American Scientist, meanwhile, takes a shot at Putting…
I always love Ars Technica. Jason
is it known what causes the gene to turn off unabling the digest of lactose in some people? is it genetic or something involving the environment? Thanks to scientists who recently found out how to turn genes back on and off, itll be awesome when the less fortunate will be able to get this gene working again!