The first goat to be cloned using an adult cell died last week, shortly after being born. The goat, called Yuanyuan, was cloned by a team of Chinese scientists using somatic cell nuclear transfer - the 'Dolly technique'. The researchers removed the genetic information from a donor egg cell and replaced...
A team of US scientists has produced a strain of genetically altered mice that learn more quickly and have better memories than ordinary mice. The researchers, based at Northwestern University, Illinois, bred the smart mice by altering a gene that increases the level of a particular protein in the developing...
The chances of a successful pregnancy decline rapidly in women over 35, according to a new study published in last week's British Medical Journal. The researchers, based at the Danish Epidemiology Centre, Copenhagen, found that the risk of miscarriage increased with age, regardless of reproductive history. The researchers studied the...
The first 'rough draft' of the entire human genome sequence is complete, UK and US scientists announced today. The achievement is being hailed as one of the most significant scientific milestones of all time, comparable with the moon landing or the splitting of the atom. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair...
Shares in Celera Genomics and other genomics firms have been rising steadily in anticipation of the announcement of the first complete draft of the entire human genome sequence. Shares in Celera, which closed at $125 last Friday, had plummeted to $70 in March. The drop came after a joint statement...
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Biology's moon landing?
by Dr Jess Buxton
A rough draft of the entire human genetic code was unveiled today, hailed as 'Biology's Apollo landing', 'the outstanding achievement of human history' and even as 'the language in which God created Life' (Bill Clinton). Does the first proof of our DNA dictionary really deserve such hyperbole? After all, even...