Humans Force Earth
into New Geologic Epoch
by Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience
Humans have
altered Earth so much that scientists say a new epoch in the
planet's geologic history has begun.
Say goodbye to the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch and hello to the
Anthropocene.
Among the major changes heralding this two-century-old man-made
epoch:
* Vastly altered sediment erosion and deposition patterns.
* Major disturbances to the carbon cycle and global temperature.
* Wholesale changes in biology, from altered flowering times to new
migration patterns.
* Acidification of the ocean, which threatens tiny marine life that
forms the bottom of the food chain...
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Animal-Human Embryo
Research is Approved
by
Mark Henderson, Times Online
Experiments to
create Britain’s first embryos that combine human and animal
material will begin within months after a government watchdog gave
its approval yesterday to two research teams to carry out the
controversial work.
Scientists at King’s College London, and the University of Newcastle
will inject human DNA into empty eggs from cows to create embryos
known as cytoplasmic hybrids, which are 99.9 per cent human in
genetic terms.
The experiments are intended to provide insights into diseases such
as Parkinson’s and spinal muscular atrophy by producing stem cells
containing genetic defects that contribute to these conditions.
These will be used as cell models for...
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Genetic
'Telepathy'? A Bizarre New Property of DNA
PhysOrg
Scientists are reporting evidence that
intact, double-stranded DNA has the “amazing” ability to recognize
similarities in other DNA strands from a distance. And then like
friends with similar interests, the bits of genetic material hangout
or congregate together. The recognition — of similar sequences in
DNA’s chemical subunits — occurs in a way once regarded as
impossible, the researchers suggest in a study scheduled for the
Jan. 31 issue of ACS’ Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
Geoff S. Baldwin, Sergey Leikin, John M. Seddon, and Alexei A.
Kornyshev and colleagues say the homology recognition between
sequences of several hundred nucleotides occurs without physical
contact or presence of proteins, factors once regarded as essential
for the phenomenon.
This recognition may help increase the accuracy and efficiency of
the homologous recombination of genes — a process responsible for
DNA repair, evolution, and genetic diversity. The new findings thus
may shed light on ways to avoid recombination errors, which underpin
cancer, aging, and other health problems...
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Transplant Girl's
Blood Change a 'Miracle'
Kate Benson, Sydney Morning Herald
She's got purple highlights in her hair and bright blue fingernails,
but to doctors at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, Demi-Lee
Brennan is a one-in-6 billion miracle.
The 15-year-old liver transplant patient is the first person in the
world to take on the immune system and blood type of her donor,
negating the need to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her
life. The phenomenon, which has been documented in the New England
Journal of Medicine, has amazed doctors, who say they have no idea
how it occurred.
Demi-Lee, of Gerroa on the South Coast, was nine when she contracted
a virus that destroyed her liver. She was given less than 48 hours
to live when a donated liver from a 12-year-old boy became
available...
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