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For Truth

Stat News reports that the Life Science division of Alphabet, the new Google holding company, is now a separate company known as Verily. That is 'verily' as in "Verily, I swear," from Shakespeare's Henry VIII, it adds.

Despite the division's old-fashioned sounding name, it is likely to be focusing on some high-tech projects. As the Verge notes, the company's previous incarnation has worked on developing contact lens-based glucose monitors and determining a baseline of human health. Further, a video introducing Verily refers to the need to "understand disease at the individual level" and bring together experts from diverse fields to cure disease.

"As a life sciences team within Google[x], we were able to combine the best of our technology heritage with expertise from across many fields," the Verily website says. "Now, as an independent company, Verily is focused on using technology to better understand health, as well as prevent, detect, and manage disease."

As for the name, CEO Andy Conrad tells Stat News that it's aspirational. "Only through the truth are we going to defeat Mother Nature," Conrad says.

The Scan

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Protein Length Distribution Consistent Across Species

An analysis in Genome Biology compares the lengths of proteins across more than 2,300 species, finding similar length distributions.

Novel Genetic Loci Linked to Insulin Resistance in New Study

A team reports in Nature Genetics that it used glucose challenge test data to home in on candidate genes involved in GLUT4 expression or trafficking.

RNA Editing in Octopuses Seems to Help Acclimation to Shifts in Water Temperature

A paper in Cell reports that octopuses use RNA editing to help them adjust to different water temperatures.