Living a Purposeful Life

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Managing editor Sandra Upson introduces the January/February 2015 issue of Scientific American MIND -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

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Vexed Issue of Gene Editing to Be Tackled by International Experts

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Scientists from the U.S., China and Britain will come together to discuss the future of the technique, which holds great promise for treating diseases  September 14, 2015 | By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists from the United States, China and Britain will come together to discuss the future of human gene editing, which holds great promise for treating diseases but also has the potential to create "designer babies." The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Britain's Royal Society said on Monday they would join the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in co-hosting an international summit on the topic in Washington on Dec. 1-3. The technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, allows scientists to edit genes by using genetic "scissors" that operate a bit like a biological word-processing program that can find and replace defects. CRISPR has excited academic researchers and drug companies alike, since it may allow them to rewrite the DNA of diseased cells. But it has ...
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Tiny Genetic Differences between Humans and Other Primates Pervade the Genome

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See Inside Genome comparisons reveal the DNA that distinguishes from its kin Aug 19, 2014 | | In 1871 Charles Darwin surmised that humans were evolutionarily closer to the African apes than to any other species alive. The recent sequencing of the gorilla, chimpanzee and bonobo genomes confirms that supposition and provides a clearer view of how we are connected: chimps and bonobos in particular take pride of place as our nearest living relatives, sharing approximately 99 percent of our DNA, with gorillas trailing at 98 percent. Yet that tiny portion of unshared DNA makes a world of difference: it gives us, for instance, our bipedal stance and the ability to plan missions to Mars. Scientists do not yet know how most of the DNA that is uniquely ours affects gene function. But they can conduct whole-genome analyses—with intriguing results. For example, comparing the 33 percent of our genome that codes for proteins with our relatives' genomes reveals that although the sum total of ou...
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Eye of Hurricane Joaquin Passing over Bahamas

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The eye of Hurricane Joaquin is passing over Samana Cay in the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory on Thursday October 1, 2015 | Major Hurricane Joaquin is shown at the far eastern periphery of the GOES West satellite's full disk extent, taken at 8 a.m. (EDT) on October 1, 2015. (Reuters) - The eye of Hurricane Joaquin is passing over Samana Cay in the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory on Thursday. The hurricane is located about 80 miles (125 km) south southeast of San Salvador, Bahamas, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour (205 km/h), the agency said. "A turn towards the northwest and north is expected on Friday, and a faster motion towards the north is expected Friday night and Saturday," the Miami-based weather forecaster said. (Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum) see also:
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