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The Genes Went Poof

Mar 21, 2007

On his blog The Loom, Carl Zimmer discusses how people lost 8,000 genes during the past six years. At the unveiling of the human genome draft in 2001, it contained some 26,000 genes. But thanks to more analysis, many of those original genes have turned to be pseudogenes or parts of another gene. Today, people are down to 18,308 genes.

We here at GTO feel a little less complex than we used to.

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.