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Obesity and genes
An interesting new study on the heritability of childhood obesity has been widely publicised. The paper, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found only a modest effect of shared environment on body mass index. The study used the common technique of comparing monozygotic and dizygotic twins; that is, twins who share all or
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The Rogue Senator and the Protection of Genetic Information
The editors of Nature have today called for the US Senate to bypass Senator Tom Coburn’s (Republican, Oklahoma ) ‘hold’ the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Bill. The Bill, if enacted “would protect people from being discriminated against by health insurers or employers on the basis of their genetic information” but Senator Coburn has used a procedural
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Dangerous ‘drugs’: the war on fake malaria pills
An alternative approach to the problem of fake anti-malaria drugs would be to make such drugs available for free to those who need them in the developing world. It would be a shame if the problem of fake pharmaceuticals became a part of the global war on drugs, and large amounts of money were spent…
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Earache for teenagers
The BBC today reported calls to scrap an acoustic device designed to disperse crowds of troublesome teenagers. There are 3,500 such ‘Mosquito’ devices in use in England, which work by emitting a sound normally audible only to those under the age of 25.
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A Knee-Jerk Reaction?
An article was published in Science on Friday (8 February 2008) reporting the results of a study on the generation of energy via an ‘energy harvester’ mounted on the human knee. The authors of the article begin by noting that humans are a rich source of energy. Indeed it seems that the average person stores
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Preventing birth to teenage parents is discriminatory
When we make decisions about which future persons will live – children to teenage parents, or children with disability, the types of objections cited above can be expressed. If we think that such objections are convincing, we should not try to prevent the birth of individuals with disability, nor children to teenage parents.
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Fluoride and the Future: Population Level Cognitive Enhancement
Health Secretary Alan Johnson wants to fluoride to be added to England’s water supplies to tackle tooth decay. He wants health authorities to compel water companies to add the chemical.
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Corrupted Science. Peer reviewer leaks information to drug manufacturer
A well-known diabetes expert has abused his function as peer reviewer for the renowned The New England Journal of Medicine. The reviewer broke confidentiality and leaked a damaging report about a substantial hike in the risk of heart attack when using the popular diabetes drug rosiglitazone, sold under the brand name Avandia, to the drug’s
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A child of many parents: a new way to have two mothers
The Guardian and Telegraph, are today reporting that British scientists have created ten human embryos which each include DNA from one man and two women. This was done by taking a one day old IVF embryo and removing its pronuclei (the parts containing the chromosomes from the parents). These were then inserted into an egg
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The Daily Mail reports on a helmet that supposedly ‘could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease within weeks of being used’. The helmet uses near infrared light, which can penetrate the skull of patients. According to the Mail: Its creators believe it could reverse the symptoms of dementia – such as memory loss and anxiety