Researchers at Harvard University in the US have asked for permission to produce cloned human embryos. One research team, led by Doug Melton and Kevin Eggan, has asked the university's stem cell ethics committee for permission to make embryos cloned from people with type 1 diabetes, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's...
The 59th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) is to revisit the thorny issue of an international treaty regulating human cloning on Thursday and Friday this week. The outcome of the upcoming vote has been described by observers as 'too close to call'. Discussions on the treaty were postponed...
John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in the US, has criticised President Bush's policy on embryonic stem (ES) cell research in a weekly Democrat's radio address. On 9 August 2001, Bush restricted federally-funded researchers to working on ES cell lines already in existence by that date. Now, the common consensus...
Certain combinations of maternal and fetal genes might increase the risk of pre-eclampsia, the most common serious complication of pregnancy, UK scientists say.The researchers, based at Cambridge University, think some genetic variations that affect the mother's immune system could influence the supply of nutrients to the developing fetus. The...
A US woman who had part of her identical twin sister's ovary surgically transplanted into her body is reported to be pregnant. Stephanie Yarber, aged 25, had the transplant operation in April this year in the hope that it would restore her fertility. Tissue was removed from Melanie's ovary, divided...
Human embryonic stem (ES) cell research may soon be going ahead in France, as the government has now given permission for French scientists to work on ES cells imported from other countries. The French National Assembly voted earlier this year to allow ES cell research to take place in the...
Genetic factors that influence homosexuality in men might also affect the number of children borne by their female relatives, Italian scientists claim. A new survey suggests that although gay men may have fewer children than heterosexual men, their mothers and maternal aunts have more children than those of men who...
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'Gay genes', scientists and the media
by Dr Jess Buxton
Gay genes' have been in the news again this week. An Italian team of researchers has attempted to explain how such genes could be passed on from one generation to the next. The answer, it seems, is that the female relatives of gay men tend to have more children than...