Mutated DNA Restored to Normal in Gene Therapy Advance

Mutated DNA Restored to Normal in Gene Therapy Advance

Researchers have corrected a disease-causing gene mutation with a single infusion carrying a treatment that precisely targeted the errant gene. This was the first time a mutated gene has been restored to normal. The small study of nine patients announced Monday by the company Beam Therapeutics of Cambridge, Mass., involved fixing a spelling error involving…

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How Much Does a Dog’s Breed Affect Its Health and Behavior?

How Much Does a Dog’s Breed Affect Its Health and Behavior?

In some cases, these health problems arose as byproducts of inbreeding. Because breeds are genetically closed populations, a disease-causing mutation that just happens to pop up in one dog can quickly become common in future generations. “Especially if the animal with that mutation is otherwise a prize specimen,” Dr. Serpell said. “Because everyone will want…

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Ancient DNA Points to Origins of Indo-European Language

Ancient DNA Points to Origins of Indo-European Language

In 1786, a British judge named William Jones noticed striking similarities between certain words in languages, such as Sanskrit and Latin, whose speakers were separated by thousands of miles. The languages must have “sprung from some common source,” he wrote. Later generations of linguists determined that Sanskrit and Latin belong to a huge family of…

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Celtic Women Held Sway in ‘Matrilocal’ Societies

Celtic Women Held Sway in ‘Matrilocal’ Societies

A tantalizing vision of a women-centric society has emerged from an ancient cemetery in the bucolic countryside of southwest England. Whereas women commonly left home to join their husbands’ families upon marriage, the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe that lived in Dorset 2,000 years ago, bucked the mold with a system called matrilocality, wherein women remained…

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