Zeke, shown here retrieving a stick from the surf at Lambert’s Cove, Martha’s Vineyard, is an aussiedoodle – a cross between an…
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post From Doodle Dogs to COVID: On the Meaning of Wild Type
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post Y Chromosome Loss Linked to Hiked Heart Disease Risk: The Human Y Isn’t Useless After All
I’ve never been fond of the human Y chromosome. Yes, the all-important SRY gene sets the early embryo on a path towards…
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post Repealing Roe: A View from a Long-time Biology Textbook Author
The Supreme Court justices who dismantled Roe v Wade in Dobbs v Jackson Woman’s Health Organization should have taken a refresher course…
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post Jurassic World: Dominion Bashes Biotech
If a new Planet of the Apes or Jurassic Park film comes out, I’m going to go see it. The latest, Jurassic…
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post Why a Sperm Donor isn’t a Father
As Father’s Day approaches, ads from the consumer DNA testing companies ramp up. But they don’t warn that in a few weeks…
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post Time Travel, Sea of Tranquility, and the History of Genetics
Tales of time travel have intrigued me since The Time Machine film scared the crap out of me at my cousin Ron’s…
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post Can Chewing Gum Protect Against COVID?
When I was growing up in the 1960s, chewing gum was a big deal. TV ads showcased the doublemint twins and their…
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post A New View of Flu Thanks to Preserved Lungs in a German Museum
I’ve long been fascinated with the 1918 influenza pandemic because my grandfather Sam survived it. He married his nurse, lived 103 years…
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post 17 Timepoints When a Human Life Might Begin, 2022 Version
I originally published When Does a Human Life Begin? 17 Timepoints here at DNA Science in 2013. My intent was to inform…
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post The Utter Oddness of COVID Anosmia
The sudden inability to smell and taste that comes with COVID is startling and difficult to describe. I was lucky to experience…
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post Probing the Genomes of the Roma, the Forgotten Europeans
The Roma people have long held a special fascination for population geneticists who study the frequencies of genetic diseases. The largest minority…
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post A Glimpse at a Future Heart Disease Drug Thanks to Gene Silencing
I often marvel at the disconnect between media coverage of “breakthrough” treatments and the decades of research that lie behind them. A…