Obama Ends Stem Cell Research Ban - Excerpts from CBS News

The US is apparently changing their stance on the polemic subject of Stem Cell Research. Till recently, Stem Cell Research has been highly restricted. Two proposals to ease on the bans were shot down by former president George W. Bush.

"President Obama ... is allowing federal taxpayer dollars to fund significantly broader research on embryonic stem cells because "medical miracles do not happen simply by accident," and promised his administration would make up for the ground lost under his predecessor." - CBS News

Obama has taken a more "science friendly" stance with his policies and declarations during his campaign, so it comes as little surprise that he is going ahead with his promise.

"Rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values," Was the statement of Preseident Obama as released by the White House.

DNA Testing and the Supreme Court

The supreme court has taken an interesting case, from the northernmost state of Alaska. It's the case of William Osborne, convicted of assaulting a prostitute. Now you may be asking what is a closed rape case from Alaska doing in front of the Supreme court, well that's the interesting part. Osbourne claims DNA Testing is a constitutional right.

Osbourne is requesting a new DNA test on the evidence that he states would clear his name. The problem is that he is asking for this after pleading guilty, for a reduced sentence, and being sentenced.

"Forty-four states already permit convicts to demand DNA testing, though the states apply different requirements. Since 1989, 232 convicted felons have been exonerated because of DNA testing."

Most states in the US allow some type of access to DNA testing, and only 6 don't already have a system in place (Alaska being one of them).

Now the results given by the supreme court will mark a shift in the legislation of legal DNA tests for criminal cases. Where before it was underthe State's purview, now it would be enforced by federal law.

Proteins and Amino Acids as the Origins of life

Scientists have been trying to figure out how life started on earth for quite a while now. One of the more famous experiments and research was conducted by Stanley Miller, where he tried to recreate the atmosphere of pre-life earth, and see if amino acids or complex molecules would arise.

A recent review of the samples from one of his experiments shows that it may have worked much more than was previously believed!

Amino Acids are essencial molecules that help make life possible.

Stanley Miller had believed his experiment a failure mainly due to the fact that 50 years ago we didn't have the technology that we have today. Today Scientists can read our genetic information much more precisely, especially thanks to DNA Testing



http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/10/forgotten-exper.html

Our DNA and Financial Risk Taking

Do you like to gamble or maybe love playing the stock market? Well, a study came out in Scientific American that showed a correlation between the genes that control our hormone levels and the amount of risk that a person takes with their money.

Dopamine, Serotonin, and Testosterone are three hormones that affect our level of risk taking. higher Dopamine and Serotonin levels are apparently common for "risk shunning" subjects, and testosterone is higher in "risk taking" test subjects, based on this study.

They were tested with a buccal swab sample for a genetic sample, and each test subject played a stocks game with $30.

It is amazing what we inherit through genetics.

DNA Profiling clears dead man's name

A news article came out today about the Case to Exonerate Timothy Cole.

Timothy Cole was convicted of rape in 1986, and died in prison in 1999.
He was proven innocent thanks to DNA Testing this February of 2009.

He is one of many cases that are being revised using DNA profiling, thanks in large part to the Innocence Project, which is a non-profit that aims to get innocent people, that have been wrongly convicted, out of jail.

This case has highlighted the need for DNA testing in delicate matters, both legal and personal, and the benefits for not only finding guilt, but also to assure someone's innocence.

Mitochondrial DNA lets us compare Neanderthals and Humans

news from National Geographics

Thanks to the use of Mitochondrial DNA left on the bones of long dead neanderthals, we have been able to shed much more light on our relationship with our evolutionary brothers.

The new analysis suggests the last common ancestor of modern humans (Homo sapiens) and Neanderthals lived between 800,000 and 520,000 years ago

Our mitochondiral DNA shows us our Maternal Ancestry. All human beings inherit their mitochondrial DNA from their mothers, which means that this genetic information passes from mother to children from our ancient past.

Now that we know that Neanderthals did not mate and become modern humans, the big question is still left unanswered: Why did they disapear?

Octuplets! Second Succesful birth of 8 babies in US history

In the US, the second successful birth of Octuplets was recorded this week! This is only the second successful birth of 8 babies in the history of the US!

Thanks to fertility drugs and techniques, high order of multiple births have become a lot more common. A multiple birth is one where more than one baby come out. Higher orders of multiples are what we call any birth with more than 2 babies.

These babies can either be identical or fraternal, which means that they either share the exact same DNA, or share DNA on the level that regular siblings do. Unless they have different genders, multiples usually never get to figure out for certain if they are truly identical or fraternal.

The only foolproof way to know for certain that you are identical or fraternal twins is by taking a twin zygosity test. With this test, the results are irrefutable.

Twins, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets, septuplets, Octuplets!

The news article can be found here