Sarah Zhang
Articles written for the GLP list the source as Genes and Science. All other articles were written for the sources noted with excerpts provided by the GLP.
Permanent readjustment: Why COVID-19 is here to stay
If there was ever a time when this coronavirus could be contained, it has probably passed. One outcome is now ...
Quest for a coronavirus vaccine ‘reinvigorating’ anti-vax conspiracy theories
There is no COVID-19 vaccine, but there are already COVID-19 vaccine conspiracies. Even as vaccines for the disease caused by ...
Breast milk breakthrough on the horizon? Growing mammary cells to create casein and lactose
The inconvenient truth about breastfeeding is that breasts are, invariably, attached to a person. A person who could get too ...
Tracing evolution of mammalian hearing: Essential ear bones were once part of the jaw
One hundred and twenty million years ago, when northeastern China was a series of lakes and erupting volcanoes, there lived ...
Anonymous no more: AncestryDNA test reveals identity of woman’s stem cell donor
In 2017, Holly Becker took an AncestryDNA test, and the results, she would only later learn, exactly matched those of ...
FDA regulatory dilemma: Are fecal transplants drugs, human tissue, or something new?
For the past several years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been trying to figure out how to regulate ...
‘Illogical and inappropriate’: How anti-vaxxers use 23andMe genetic tests to avoid vaccines
San Francisco’s city attorney subpoenaed a doctor accused of giving illegal medical exemptions from vaccination, based on “two 30-minute visits ...
‘Stranger than doctors could have imagined’: Boy born without one type of brain cells
Even before he was born, it was clear that the boy’s brain was unusual—so much so that his expecting parents ...
‘Evolution in action’: How did this common gut bacteria turn lethal?
For three decades, the deadly bacteria sat in cold storage. Normally, Enterococcus faecalis lives harmlessly in the human gut. One particular strain, ...
DNA testing uncovers fertility doctor’s decades-old dark secret
The first Facebook message arrived when Heather Woock was packing for vacation, in August 2017. It was from a stranger claiming to ...
Huntington’s risk spawns niche IVF market for people who don’t want a diagnosis
When Jennifer Leyton was going through IVF, her doctors would tell her very little. They turned off the ultrasound screen ...
DNA of the dead: Genetic testing companies offering to use envelopes licked by the deceased
In the past year, genealogists have been abuzz about the possibility of getting DNA out of old stamps and envelopes ...
What explains twins that are ‘somewhere in between’ fraternal and identical?
A few years ago, Michael Gabbett got a call from a very confused ob-gyn. A woman had come in pregnant ...
‘Google of sorts’: DNA database harnesses power of genome sequences
In 2015, scientists discovered a pig in China that would set off a frantic, worldwide search. The pig carried bacteria ...
How long can bacteria live? 500-year experiment could provide answers
In the year 2514, some future scientist will arrive at the University of Edinburgh (assuming the university still exists), open ...
From salt to hand sanitizer, corn is in everything. What would life without it look like?
When Christine Robinson was first diagnosed with a corn allergy 17 years ago, she remembers thinking, “No more popcorn, no ...
DNA test for your dog? Here’s what your vet thinks about it
[T]he direct-to-dog-owner market has become bigger and more crowded: Embark, DNA My Dog, and Paw Print Genetics are just a few ...
When a DNA test uncovers an ugly family secret
As DNA-testing companies sell millions of kits, they’ve started to rearrange families. The tests have reunited long-lost cousins and helped adoptees find their ...
Personal DNA tests challenged for perpetuating ‘false notions’ of ethnic cultures and race
Genetic-ancestry tests are having a moment. Look no further than Spotify: [Last month], the music-streaming service—as in, the service used ...
Can a DNA test prove you are black? This man is suing the government to find out
In 2014, Ralph Taylor applied to have his insurance company in Washington State certified as a “disadvantaged business enterprise.” The DBE ...
Living with hemophilia: When patients with genetic disorders don’t want to be cured
Jeff Johnson is 40 years old, and for all 40 of those years, he has been living with hemophilia. The ...
When a DNA test says you aren’t exactly who you think you are
[Catherine] St Clair thought she was inquiring about a technical glitch. Her brother—the brother who along with three other siblings ...
‘War of words’ over what to call lab-grown meat exposes divide in America’s food culture
On [July 12th], in a small but packed auditorium, the FDA convened a public meeting about lab-grown meat—but you wouldn’t ...
Fueling CRISPR: The nonprofit dedicated to sharing ‘bits of useful DNA’
When Feng Zhang was a graduate student in the early 2000s, he helped make a groundbreaking discovery: Light-sensitive proteins from ...
Genetically engineered monkeys? China is using them for autism research
[MIT genetics researcher Guoping] Feng now travels to China several times a year, because there, he can pursue research he ...
CRISPR innovator Feng Zhang on treating human diseases: ‘We’re still a ways from that’
[Biologist Feng Zhang] has already made two discoveries tipped to win Nobel Prizes. The big one, the one that shot ...
Small genealogy website GEDmatch ‘never expected’ its criminal-catching use
Ever since investigators revealed that a genealogy website led police to arrest a man as California’s notorious Golden State Killer, interest ...
The future of ‘genetic genealogy’ crime solving
Just three weeks ago, law enforcement in California announced the arrest of the Golden State Killer using DNA. … On ...
