Tag: DNA

The Story: Scientists as of this year have finally mapped the whole of the human genome, that is, the complete set of nucleic acid sequences...

The Story: For decades, one foundational principle in the study of cellular biochemistry was that information flows in one direction. The information built into DNA's...

The Story: Those Covid-19 vaccines thus far approved by the US FDA have a common feature: they require two shots. The full effectiveness of the...

We gathered several of our political reporters — Jess Bidgood, Liz Goodwin, Victoria McGrane, and James Pindell — to answer questions via Slack Monday about her nascent campaign: When Elizabeth Warren entered the race, she faced some criticism about her candidacy — everything from her DNA test release to questions about her ‘likability’ (more on that later). Since we’re talking about Massachusetts... What other ways, if any, does she bring up her life here? Bidgood: She has talked a lot about beating Scott Brown in 2012. This person, like most if not all Republicans, really does not like Warren. When you talk to the people who appear at her rallies, what do they say about her “likability”? Pindell: Democratic voters I talk with are really struggling with the “I want a progressive fighter who understands I want to punch Trump every day” and then someone they think will have a persona of calm that can tactically appeal to some Trump voters. Goodwin: It feels like a lot of voters are willing to vote for whoever is getting the most traction and seems to have the best shot at beating Trump. Getting in so early was partly a nod to her wanting to get the meter started on these donations. (Of course, other candidates will have the same challenge.) McGrane: Warren, interestingly, has done some work on outreach to voters of color in the past couple of years as Jess wrote about.

In a video posted on YouTube, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced to the world that he successfully used the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to modify the DNA of two embryos before birth, essentially creating the world's first genetically modified humans. #CNN…

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s strange insistence that trace amounts of American Indian DNA confirm her past claims to minority status has drawn snorts from her fellow liberals, as well as from conservatives. Even the Cherokee Nation piled on, saying she is “undermining tribal interests.” Americans from all sides who disdain identity politics should recognize, however, the yeoman’s work the senior senator from Massachusetts is doing to expose the empty core of our new national pastime, the victimhood Olympics. From protected statuses to grievance-mongering, set asides, racial preferences, bias training, political correctness and hegemonic narratives, the whole edifice of identity politics rests on the foundational notion that we are all members of monolithic groups. Each is imbued with group-think and scrambles for pole position on the national stage through power relations — or some such. Warren is making it plainly obvious that we’re all a mix, a bit of this and a dash of that. If there is a power struggle taking place, it is internal — your French genes fighting your English ones in some intestinal Waterloo. Warren is soldiering on, claiming the DNA results she released Monday vindicate her long-standing claims of Native American heritage. For the record, what the DNA revealed was that Warren has between 1.56 percent and 0.097 percent American Indian DNA — and measured, at that, against DNA samples from Peru, Mexico and Colombia, not from the United States. “A DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship. President Trump will doubtless continue ridiculing Warren’s claims of inherited disadvantage, keeping the issue alive.

The Story: Though Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma) has long received ridicule from the right, and from the Oval Office, for her family-lore-inspired claims to Cherokee...

The Story: Three Republicans in Massachusetts are vying to contest in this year's election the seat in the US Senate occupied by Elizabeth Warren (D)....