DNA

Ministers plan a DNA database for dogs to help tackle a surge in pet thefts during the pandemic 

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Ministers plan a DNA database for dogs to help tackle a surge in pet thefts during the pandemic New system would requires owners to supply DNA swab from their pet’s mouth  Would be stored on a database used by police and local authority officials Follows rise in pet thefts during pandemic as puppy demand hit … Read more

DNA award: $1.2MILLION Millennium Technology Prize is awarded to two British chemists

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A pair of British chemists have won a $1.2 million (£840,000) prize for developing new DNA sequencing technique. The Millennium Technology Prize has been awarded every two years since 2004 by the Technology Academy Finland (TAF) to highlight the extensive impact of science and innovation on the wellbeing of society. Cambridge University chemists Shankar Balasubramanian and … Read more

DNA tests reveals Johnny Cash’s first wife was black and her great-grandmother was a freed slave

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Johnny Cash’s first wife was black and her great-great grandmother a slave, it has emerged – shocking the Cash family, and providing a dramatic posthumous twist to her remarkable story. Vivian Liberto died in 2005 at the age of 71, believing she was of mixed Italian and German ancestry. The daughter of a father of … Read more

Traces of Neanderthal DNA extracted from cave dust

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Small amounts of Neanderthal DNA discovered in the dust of Spanish and Russian caves could give researchers new insight into how our early ancestors lived.  The 100,000-year-old discoveries were made in three different spots: the Galeria de las Estatuas cave site in Burgos, Spain and the Chagyrskaya and Denisova caves in the Altai Mountain range … Read more

Traces of Neanderthal DNA extracted from cave dust

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Small amounts of Neanderthal DNA discovered in the dust of Spanish and Russian caves could give researchers new insight into how our early ancestors lived.  The 100,000-year-old discoveries were made in three different spots: the Galeria de las Estatuas cave site in Burgos, Spain and the Chagyrskaya and Denisova caves in the Altai Mountain range … Read more

Mitochondrial DNA variations that reduce HEIGHT more common in Scotland, Wales and Northumbria

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Errors found in the mitochondrial DNA of certain people can lead to them being shorter than those without the variations, a new study has found. The team from the University of Cambridge used data on 358,000 people from the UK Biobank and created a new technique to study mitochondrial DNA and its relationship to human … Read more

Blind patients hope to gain vision in medical first of CRISPR editing DNA inside their bodies

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In a world first, scientists are using the controversial CRISPR technology to edit genes while the DNA is still inside a person’s body. Typically, the tool –  used to treat conditions like sickle cell disease – removes cells from the body, edits out the mutated parts and then reinserts them, along with instructions to create … Read more

DNA identifies first member of Britain’s doomed 1845 Franklin Expedition

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The remains of a sailor who perished on the doomed Franklin Expedition in 1845 have been positively identified using DNA analysis for the first time.   Bones found at Erebus Bay on King William Island, Nunavut, were excavated in 2013 and have now been matched to a living individual, confirming the body is that of Warrant … Read more

Health: People who live past 105 have bodies that are more efficient at mending DNA

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People who live for more than 105 years tend to have a unique genetic background that makes their bodies more efficient at repairing DNA, a study has found. Researchers compared the sequenced genomes of 81 Italians aged 105 and over with healthy adults from the same region that were aged around 68. They found that … Read more