Author: Matt Kristoffersen
Greetings–
Here’s the week that was…
STAT!
–As I mentioned a couple months ago, I’m starting to contribute to a new publication called STAT as a national correspondent. This week they officially launched, offering this description on their web site of what they’re about: Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, November 6, 2015”
STAT, November 5, 2015
If you enter Health Nucleus, a new facility in San Diego cofounded by J. Craig Venter, one of the world’s best-known living scientists, you will get a telling glimpse into the state of medical science in 2015.
Your entire genome will be sequenced with extraordinary resolution and accuracy. Your body will be scanned in fine, three-dimensional detail. Thousands of compounds in your blood will be measured. Even the microbes that live inside you will be surveyed. You will get a custom-made iPad app to navigate data about yourself. Also, your wallet will be at least $25,000 lighter.
Continue reading “Geneticist Craig Venter helped sequence the human genome. Now he wants yours”
Greetings–
On Saturday, I gave a plenary talk at the annual meeting of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. I described the fast rise of CRISPR and encouraged the audience to consider the ethical questions that may arise if we gain the ability to fix diseases or even enhance traits in embryos. Laura Hercher, a genetic counselor at Sarah Lawrence College, also gave a talk in the session. She focused on mitochondrial replacement therapy, which is sometimes wrongly described as producing “three-parent babies.” Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, October 30, 2015”
Greetings–
There are few things more interesting than ancient human DNA and diseases (if you ask me). So the opportunity to write about both of them in one article was the highlight of my week.
Scientists who have been gathering DNA from Bronze Age skeletons wondered if they might have unknowingly scooped up some DNA from interesting pathogens. Turns out, they did. From 5,000-year-old skeletons, they extracted the DNA of Yersinia pestis, the cause of the plague. The discovery pushes back the plague 3,000 years, and allows us to see the stepwise evolution of the pathogen into its full-blown, flea-carried form. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, October 23, 2015”
My apologies–for some reason some of the links in today’s newsletter didn’t work. I’ve fixed them in this version. I promise not to send bad links on future Friday!
Greetings–
A couple weeks ago I stopped by the offices of Business Insider in New York to chat with the editors there, both on camera and off, about all sorts of things biological. They’ve transformed our conversations into a series of short articles and videos that they’ve been sprinkling onto the Internet for the past few days like pinches of chili powder. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, October 16, 2015: LINKS FIXED, HEAD BOWED IN SHAME”