Generation of ‘X-Men’ superhumans could become a reality in 30 years thanks to advances in gene science, say MoD experts
Experts warn of ‘genetic inequality’ if advances are unequally shared Report says ‘human augmentation’ is likely to increase over next 30 years Details released following a Freedom of Information request A generation of genetically-modified ‘X-Men’ superhumans could be among us by 2045, a Ministry of Defence think tank has said.Advancements in gene technology could help humans gain mutant powers such as the likes of Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm in the popular comic book and movie series, it has been reported. The MoD’s Development Concepts and Doctrine Centre warn however that ‘genetic inequality’ could result from advancements in biology being unequally [...]
Previously unknown human population boom revealed by DNA: Massive expansion occurred 40,000 years ago
Scientists guess that baby boom occurred as our ancestors adapted to life away from the coasts By Damien Gayle PUBLISHED: 14:27 GMT, 31 October 2012 | UPDATED: 14:27 GMT, 31 October 2012 DNA sequencing has revealed a previously unknown human population boom between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago, a new study claims. The sequencing of the Y chromosomes from 36 men has revealed a ten-fold increase in the number of genetic markers nearly 20,000 years after our ancestors first left Africa. Scientists believe the expansion could have occurred as our ancestors adapted to more rugged environments, allowing them to spread [...]
Colorado Researchers Say DNA Proves Bigfoot Is Real
Bigfoot is real. That’s according to a group of Colorado researchers who say they have hard evidence proving its existence. Researcher Dave Paulides is convinced the reality of Bigfoot isn’t as fuzzy as the photos from people who claim to have seen the mythological creature. “This DNA is like nothing else in the world,” Paulides said. Paulides says Bigfoot looks approximately 7 to 8 feet tall and weighs in at a whopping 800 to 1,000 pounds. “It’s easy to say a lot of things are crazy. If you lived underground your whole life, the belief that 400 [...]
Supreme Court to hear fight over taking DNA from arrested people
By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau February 2, 2013, 10:12 p.m The Supreme Court will hear a privacy rights challenge to the police practice of taking DNA from people arrested but not yet convicted. WASHINGTON — On a cold February night three years ago, police in suburban Arlington, Va., received a frantic call. A young woman said her roommate had been abducted at gunpoint by a short, clean-shaven man who sped away in a silver SUV. At dawn, a motorist spotted the victim in a snowy field near a highway, raped and strangled, but alive. An alert officer, hearing the [...]
DNA map offers hope on cancer treatments
Cancer will become a manageable disease rather than a death sentence thanks to a revolutionary treatment which will be available within five years, British specialists predict. All patients will soon have their tumour’s DNA, its genetic code, sequenced, enabling doctors to ensure they give exactly the right drugs to keep the disease at bay. Doctors hope it will be an important step towards transforming some types of cancer into a chronic rather than fatal disease. The technique could enable terminally ill patients, who can currently expect to live only months, to carry on for a decade or more in relatively [...]
It’s Alive! Artificial Life Springs From Manmade DNA
ANALYSIS: It’s Alive! Artificial Life Springs from Manmade DNA A paragraph from his book, Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves,” clarifies his idea. Church explains that genetic engineering gives researchers a way to start with an intact genome of an animal and change it to the genome of another animal. You could start with an elephant’s genome, for example, and change it into that of a mammoth’s. “The same technique would work for the Neanderthal,” he writes, “except that you’d start with a stem cell genome from a human adult and gradually reverseengineer it into the Neanderthal [...]
Could a Surrogate Mother Deliver a Neanderthal Baby?
In a controversial interview that has ignited commentary across the world, a respected Harvard professor of genetics has suggested an “extremely adventurous female human” might someday serve as surrogate mother for a cloned Neanderthal baby. Besides saying that the cloning of a live Neanderthal baby would be possible in our lifetime, George Church told Der Spiegel magazine that using stem cells to create a Neanderthal could have significant benefits to society. “The first thing you have to do is to sequence the Neanderthal genome, and that has actually been done,” Church said. “The next step would be to chop this [...]
‘Adventurous’ Woman Needed as Surrogate for Neanderthal Baby
‘Adventurous’ Woman Needed as Surrogate for Neanderthal Baby Are you an adventurous human woman? Adventurous enough to be a surrogate mother for the first Neanderthal baby to be born in 30,000 years? Harvard geneticist George Church recently told Der Spiegel he’s close to developing the necessary technology to clone a Neanderthal, at which point all he’d need is an “adventurous human woman” — einen abenteuerlustigen weiblichen Menschen — to act as a surrogate mother. It’s not out of the question at all. As MIT Technology Review‘s Susan Young points out, scientists cloned an extinct subspecies of ibex in 2009. It [...]
The Human Genome and how it works
A colossal international effort has yielded the first comprehensive look at how our DNA works, an encyclopedia of information that will rewrite the textbooks and offer new insights into the biology of disease. For one thing, it may help explain why some people are more prone to common ailments such as high blood pressure and heart disease. The findings, reported Wednesday by more than 500 scientists, reveal extraordinarily complex networks that tell our genes what to do and when, with millions of on-off switches. “It’s this incredible choreography going on, of a modest number of genes and an [...]
Human Genome Debate: SCOTUS to Decide Who Owns Your Genes
The Supreme Court announced Friday it will hear arguments in a case challenging patents on genes that possibly cause breast and ovarian cancer. The genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have been associated with hereditary forms of breast and ovarian cancer. The plaintiffs argue that Myriad Genentics’ patent hinders potentially life-saving cancer research and patient access to diagnostic testing. They are also pushing for the courts to recognize genes as “products of nature” and, therefore, unpatentable. Conversely, Myriad argues that they do not own the patent on the gene itself; rather, they own the patent on the process for isolating the gene. [...]