genetics

Fertility startup that screens embryos to predict height, intelligence and disease sparks debate with ‘great genes’ campaign

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Fertility startup that screens embryos to predict height, intelligence and disease sparks debate with ‘great genes’ campaign

The gene-ie is out of the bottle. A fertility startup that offers embryo screening to predict a baby’s height and intelligence has sparked controversy with a series of provocative new ads. Nucleus Genomics blanketed Big Apple subway stations with billboards this week as part of their “Have Your Best Baby” campaign, encouraging prospective parents to … Read more

Good news, bro: You’re likely to live longer if your sister does this

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Good news, bro: You’re likely to live longer if your sister does this

If you’re looking for another reason to appreciate your sister, here’s one with a scientific twist. Research suggests brothers may live longer when their sisters can pull off something extraordinary later in life. But that longevity boost doesn’t seem to extend to spouses — a sign, scientists say, that the benefit comes from genes rather … Read more

Hard of hearing? Viagra could reverse some deafness: study

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Hard of hearing? Viagra could reverse some deafness: study

Come again? The infamous little blue pill that keeps men up and at ’em may improve a different kind of hardness — hardness of hearing, that is. A new study reports that Viagra has the potential to reverse a frequently permanent type of inherited hearing loss. Viagra has more uses than just in the bedroom … Read more

Rare mutant kitten dubbed ‘cyclops cat’ is born with one eye

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Rare mutant kitten dubbed ‘cyclops cat’ is born with one eye

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A kitten in Brazil is being dubbed the “cyclops cat” after it was born with one eye, as seen in a viral video. “I’m 32 years old and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” farmhand Gilberto Almeida told NewsX of the one-eyed feline, which … Read more

Exclusive | My infant son died of a rare disorder — I wish his doctors had run this cheap test sooner

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Exclusive | My infant son died of a rare disorder — I wish his doctors had run this cheap test sooner

Jordan Kruse realized something was wrong with her newborn, Pruitt, hours after bringing him home from the hospital last year. “He started to refuse nursing,” Kruse, 32, told The Post. “You’re supposed to nurse [newborns] every two hours, so that was my first sign.” Pruitt Kruse arrived on May 17, 2024, joining his two older … Read more

The exact age when your sperm quality starts to decline — and you’re more likely to pass disease-causing mutations to your kids

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The exact age when your sperm quality starts to decline — and you’re more likely to pass disease-causing mutations to your kids

While whiskey, real estate portfolios and emotional intelligence tend to improve with age, sperm does not. New research suggests that your spunk does indeed sour with time — at least in terms of how harmful, age-related mutations can affect your offspring. Publishing in the journal Nature, researchers in the UK tracked the sperm samples of … Read more

Hope for sufferers of devastating brain disease as new treatment has 75% success rate

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Hope for sufferers of devastating brain disease as new treatment has 75% success rate

A novel gene therapy has been found to significantly slow the progression of Huntington’s disease, offering new hope to sufferers of the incurable disorder that destroys brain cells over time. Drugmaker uniQure reported the results of its small but “groundbreaking” Phase I/II study this week, finding that a high dose of its AMT-130 therapy slowed … Read more

Exclusive | This longevity clinic was inspired by Amish genetics — a lot of patients do worse in these 4 areas than they expect

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Exclusive | This longevity clinic was inspired by Amish genetics — a lot of patients do worse in these 4 areas than they expect

CHICAGO — I’m no Bryan Johnson, but I was feeling pretty confident when I strolled into the Northwestern Medicine Human Longevity Clinic in July. I’ve taken several aging tests over the past year to learn how my cells and systems are functioning. One pinpointed my biological age at 29 and another at 36, which is … Read more

What is ‘geographic tongue’? All about ‘SNL’ star Kate McKinnon’s ‘gross’ condition

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What is ‘geographic tongue’? All about ‘SNL’ star Kate McKinnon’s ‘gross’ condition

Map got your tongue? In what appeared to be a slip of the tongue, “Saturday Night Live” alumna Kate McKinnon recently revealed to People that she has an odd but harmless medical condition called “geographic tongue.” “Your tongue sheds in patches and looks like an atlas, hence the name ‘geographic tongue,’ ” McKinnon, 41, explained … Read more

This cancer often has no warning signs — a pioneering new treatment freezes it away

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This cancer often has no warning signs — a pioneering new treatment freezes it away

Consider this a PSA about PSA. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in US men, excluding skin cancer, and the second-leading cause of male cancer deaths, after lung cancer. One in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and about 3% of men will die from it. Early-stage prostate cancer often has no … Read more

New genetic test can predict if a child will be obese as an adult — before they even turn 5

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New genetic test can predict if a child will be obese as an adult — before they even turn 5

The future is uncertain — but your kid’s waistline as an adult might not be. Scientists have developed a groundbreaking test that can identify children as young as five who are at increased risk of becoming severely obese later in life. The tool could one day help parents and doctors intervene early, setting young people … Read more

Some seniors have a ‘fountain of youth’ in their immune systems — but it comes with a major downside

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Some seniors have a ‘fountain of youth’ in their immune systems — but it comes with a major downside

Staying young might not be all it’s cracked up to be. While most people experience a decline in immune function with age, new research has found that a fortunate few maintain a powerful defense thanks to rare immune cells that stay active well into their senior years. But this “fountain of youth” effect comes at … Read more

Trying to lose weight? This common mealtime mistake could be sabotaging your progress

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Trying to lose weight? This common mealtime mistake could be sabotaging your progress

Lifestyle choices impact your weight, but your genes can tip the scales, too. New research suggests that people with a higher risk for obesity may be sabotaging their efforts to slim down by making a simple mealtime mistake.  The good news? Scientists found an easy switch that can help fight back against what’s written in … Read more

Debilitating illness once dismissed as ‘yuppie flu’ actually has genetic causes: study

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Debilitating illness once dismissed as ‘yuppie flu’ actually has genetic causes: study

Tired all the time? It might be in your DNA. A new study has uncovered striking genetic differences in people suffering from a devastating illness that causes extreme exhaustion, chronic pain and brain fog that can last for months, years or even decades. Researchers are calling the discovery a “wakeup call” that could finally shift … Read more

Deaf kids and adults got their hearing back within weeks of having a ‘life-changing’ injection

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Deaf kids and adults got their hearing back within weeks of having a ‘life-changing’ injection

It’s music to our ears. Approximately 11 million people in the US consider themselves deaf or severely hard of hearing. No medications have been approved to treat hereditary hearing loss, but cochlear implants can help people with deafness perceive sound by bypassing damaged parts of the inner ear and directly stimulating the auditory nerve. “This … Read more

Men can face double dementia risk if they have this hidden genetic mutation

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Men can face double dementia risk if they have this hidden genetic mutation

A hidden genetic mutation could predict a man’s likelihood of developing dementia. That’s according to an Australian study led by Monash and Curtin Universities, which analyzed the medical data of thousands of Australians and Americans. Men who had a certain variant in the haemochromatosis (HFE) gene — which regulates iron levels in the body — were found to be … Read more

Could Down syndrome be eliminated? Scientists say cutting-edge gene editing tool could cut out extra chromosome

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Could Down syndrome be eliminated? Scientists say cutting-edge gene editing tool could cut out extra chromosome

Cutting-edge gene editing technology could eradicate Down syndrome, according to Japanese scientists. Down syndrome, which causes a range of developmental differences and affects 1 in 700 newborns in the United States, is caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21. The extra chromosome, also known as trisomy 21, causes cellular overactivity, compromises … Read more

IVF parents are spending thousands to predict their babies’ chances of having Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease

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IVF parents are spending thousands to predict their babies’ chances of having Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease

Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s … genetic optimization? Prospective parents using in vitro fertilization (IVF) will soon be able to select embryos based on their potential risk for diseases — including illnesses that develop later in life — thanks to a groundbreaking $5,999 service announced this week by a US biotech company. “Before … Read more

Hate the sound of people chewing? That’s bad news for your risk of depression

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Hate the sound of people chewing? That’s bad news for your risk of depression

Quiet, please! If the sounds of chewing, crunching, slurping, yawning, pen clicking, tapping, water dripping, sniffling, whistling and breathing make you angry or even panicked, you may have misophonia. The term, coined in 2001, describes a chronic condition in which certain sounds trigger strong negative responses that can affect daily life and social interactions. If … Read more

Alarming study finds that this small difference at birth significantly increases your colorectal cancer risk

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Alarming study finds that this small difference at birth significantly increases your colorectal cancer risk

Your past might come back to bite you in the butt — literally. A new study suggests that a key factor in early life could increase your risk of developing colorectal cancer as an adult. The findings add to a growing body of research trying to pinpoint what’s fueling the alarming rise in colorectal cancer … Read more