Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and the loss of genetic diversity are the main factors driving the extinction of many wild species, and the few eastern massasauga rattlesnakes remaining in Illinois have certainly suffered two of the three. A long-term study of these snakes reveals, however, that – despite their alarming decline in numbers – they have retained a surprising amount of genetic diversity.

Researchers propose that it is time for the biomedical community to consider this genomics approach in clinical care.

Researchers have discovered a navigational gene in glass catfish called the electromagnetic-perceptive gene, or EPG, that responds to certain magnetic waves. These findings have the potential to revolutionize treatments for humans and help those who suffer from tremors related to Parkinson’s and seizures associated with epilepsy.

Ottoline Leyser, Director of the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge writes for the Conversation on the flaws behind a new ruling by the European Court of Justice that reclassifies genetic modification as any technique that induces genetic changes “in a way that does not occur naturally”.

This article aims to highlight the key types of epigenetic modification, summarize current and emerging drug discovery efforts to target epigenetic dysregulation and will discuss some of the benefits and challenges of epigenetic therapeutics.

A key statistical test in research fields including biology, economics and psychology, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is very useful for analyzing datasets. It allows comparisons to be made between three or more groups of data. Here, we summarize the key differences between these two tests, including the assumptions and hypotheses that must be made about each type of test.