Talking to Animals

Researchers have endowed lab mice with the human version of a gene involved in language, and while the mice didn’t exactly sit up and start reciting poetry about cheese, they did show some intriguing differences in both their vocal patterns and brain structure.

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Reversing Muscular Dystrophy In Dogs

A genetic technique successfully treats Duchenne muscular dystrophy in dogs. The researchers used a novel technique called exon skipping to restore partial function to the gene involved in Duchenne. The study, published in Annals of Neurology, gives hope that a similar approach could work in humans.

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Designer Babies

The Fertility Institutes recently stunned the fertility community by being the first company to boldly offer couples the opportunity to screen their embryos not only for diseases and gender, but also for completely benign characteristics such as eye color, hair color, and complexion.

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The Fertility Institutes

MIT Chemists engineer plants to produce new compounds

Genetic engineering is not new: Scientists have known for years how to get plants to resist pests and herbicides or to produce substances such as insecticides by inserting genes from other plants or animals. What is new, however, is the ability to induce plants to create new products by tinkering with the plants' own synthetic pathways.

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