Should genetic testing be regulated? The latest news on the debate.
Risky secrets – Blog – Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). A nice round-up of the latest issues concerning direct-to-consumer genetic testing. And since it’s on the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative website, it also talks about the problems of using these tests for autism genes. Definitely worth a read. Some highlights: A flurry of […]
Regulating genetic testing, understanding probabilities, and knowing the future
Should we regulate people’s access to their own genome data?. More on the issue of regulating personal genetic testing, by Ars Technica‘s John Timmer. The headline is a bit misleading, since the issue is more about whether the “Direct-to-Consumer” (DTC) genetic testing industry should be regulated like any other medical tests or not. Definitely worth […]
Bad Astronomy and some drawbacks to personal DNA testing
A few quick things that I’ve been meaning to write about for a while: I’ve added a link to the Bad Astronomy blog by one of my favorite astronomers/debunkers of pseudoscience. Always an enjoyable read, and another example of how to run a good blog. And today’s post mentioned the Amazing Randi, with some links […]
Learn.Genetics™
Learn.Genetics is a site created by the University of Utah to teach people about genetics. It’s got great design, lots of helpful information, and virtual labs that walk you through four common molecular biology techniques, some of which we used to give hands-on experience with when I volunteered at the San Jose Tech Museum. The […]
Epigenetics, DNA: How You Can Change Your Genes, Destiny – TIME
Epigenetics, DNA: How You Can Change Your Genes, Destiny – TIME. The January 18 issue of Time magazine had a nice cover story on Epigenetics – or how the way we live can actually change our DNA in ways that get passed on to our kids. Follow the link above to the web version of […]
Why it’s not so simple to create designer babies
“The Myth of Genetic Improvement”, an article in the Council for Responsible Genetics’ GeneWatch magazine by Barry Starr, who ran the Stanford at the Tech science outreach program that I volunteered at and really enjoyed. Nice article, talking about an issue that I think will become more and more relevant as we decipher the functions […]