Genetics

Scientists have confirmed that facial deformities among the House of Habsburg were caused by inbreeding, according to a newly-published study. The twist: they reached their findings by studying paintings. The influential Austrian royal line produced European rulers between the 14th and 20th centuries.

Scientists at the University of Utah are looking at how bears and other mammals hibernate in an effort to find genetic clues for combating disease. They hope to identify similar regions in the human genome – especially those related to obesity.

A new study from a team of Japanese researchers is presenting a novel hypothesis as to the cause of a subtype of schizophrenia. The study also suggests a biomarker in human follicles could allow future diagnoses to be made using a single hair.

Humanity is poised to take a huge leap forward, as a convergence of next-gen technologies combine to give us unprecedented power over our own biology. Here's a roadmap to the key technologies and how it's going to play out in the coming decades.

A study has homed in on a gene linked to “short sleepers”, those with the ability to slumber for less than six hours a night with no negative consequences. The gene mutation also was found to prevent memory problems associated with sleep deprivation.

A landmark new study is strongly linking excessive neural activity with shorter lifespans. The study suggests a protein known to suppress neural excitation affects a number of longevity pathways, effectively slowing the aging process.

Researchers at Griffith University in Australia have used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system to effectively cure cervical cancer in mice.

New research has identified a specific genetic variant that may act as a biomarker for patients that are unlikely to respond to new biologic treatments for Crohn's disease.

Led by scientists from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a new study is homing in on a single gene suggested to be a master regulator in schizophrenia.

An experimental pest control method using genetically-modified mosquitoes has gone wrong, mixing mutant genes into Brazil's wild mosquito population.

For the first time, researchers have identified regions of the genome related to left-handedness in the general population.

A team of US scientists is embarking on an immense project to catalog all the genes in the collective human microbiome. In the first published study an astounding 46 million genes have been chronicled from just 3,500 human microbiome samples. Half of those genes are unique to single human samples.