akabagel | Shared With: Everyone - Dec 05 2007 | dna, virus, evolution, genome, science, disease, aids
Sweet article about some dudes who are putting extinct retroviruses from our DNA back together for study
Quoted: It takes less than two per cent of our genome to create all the proteins necessary for us to live. Eight per cent, however, is composed of broken and disabled retroviruses, which, millions of years ago, managed to embed themselves in the DNA of our ancestors. They are called endogenous retroviruses, because once they infect the DNA of a species they become part of that species.
- akabagel | Shared With: Everyone - Nov 21 2007 | dna, stem cells, embryos, science
w00t
Quoted: The achievements completely reset the boundaries of the stem cell debate, because both groups generated cells that looked and acted like embryonic stem cells, but without the need for eggs, embryos or ethical quandaries about where the cells came from. "I think this is the future of stem cell research," says Dr. John Gearhart, the biologist who first discovered human fetal embryonic stem cells. "It's absolutely terrific."
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