A team of Canadian and French researchers has identified a novel gene responsible for a significant fraction of ALS (sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) cases. ALS is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, an incurable neuromuscular disorder that affects motor neurons and leads to paralysis and death within one to five years.

Among the approximately 23,000 genes found in human DNA, scientists currently estimate that there may be as few as 50 to 100 that have no counterparts in other species. Expand that comparison to include the primate family known as hominoids, and there may be several hundred unique genes.

John Innes Centre scientists have found that plants may cluster the genes needed to make defence chemicals. Their findings may provide a way to discover new natural plant products of use as drugs, herbicides or crop protectants.

Human diseases and social networks seem to have little in common. However, at the crux of these two lies a network, communities within the network, and farther even, substructures of the communities.

A new study examining social behaviour suggests certain individuals are genetically programmed to cheat and often will do… providing they can get away with it.

Happiness in life is as much down to having the right genetic mix as it is to personal circumstances according to a recent study.

A research team from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Johns Hopkins University and China Medical University and Hospital in Taiwan have described for the first time the mechanisms by which variants of a specific gene, CAPON or NOS1AP, can disrupt normal heart rhythm.

Professor Barbara Oakley knows how dangerous college classrooms can be: her op-ed, “Killer in the Classroom,” was published in the New York Times after the Virginia Tech murders. Professor Oakley’s recent book EVIL GENES is about the neuroscience behind why malevolent killers do the terrible things they do. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker called Oakley’s work “A fascinating scientific and personal exploration of the roots of evil, filled with human insight and telling detail.”

The first genome-wide search for genes governing social behavior has found that even the simplest social creatures -- the amoebae Dictyostelium discoideum -- have more than 100 genes that help regulate their cooperative behavior.

Researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham Institute) have provided genetic evidence that Activating Transcription Factor 2 (ATF2) plays a suppressor role in skin cancer development.

Physical aggression in children comes from their genes and the environment in which they grow up. Social aggression, such as spreading rumors or ignoring other children, has less to do with genetic factors and more with environmental factors.

New research suggests that two recently discovered genes are critically important for controlling cell survival during embryonic development.