Could your parents’ lifestyle choices affect how long you live? And could this effect not be directly related to your genes? Scientists studying my favourite roundworm (C. elegans) have discovered a surprising answer: yes, they can. Why does the offspring live longer? Interested? Go on to read the whole article at MappingIgnorance.org

Can a father’s lifestyle choices before conception influence the health of his future children? New research reveals that environmental factors affecting fathers can leave molecular footprints in embryos, shaping development and potentially impacting long-term health. For decades, scientists believed that inheritance was controlled exclusively by DNA sequences passed from parents to offspring. Today, researchers recognize…

Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa affect up to 70 million people worldwide. In particular, despite its prevalence and long-term duration, there are no effective pharmacological treatments for anorexia. This may change in the future if recent results in mice transfer appropriately to humans, as a “hunger” peptide appears to revert weight loss in mice…

When you think about DNA, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the double helix popularized by Watson and Crick (discovered by Rosalind Franklin). However, in the 90s scientists identified a particular conformation in DNA molecules in vitro (in a tube): single chain knot-like loops that they called i-motifs. These structures form because…

Our DNA is a puzzle resulting from millions of years of evolution. An ancient part of it is composed from the genetic material of viruses that integrated in our genome and became part of “us.” Though it may seem strange, about 7% of our genomes are comprised by these old viral sequences. What’s more, recent…

To eat, a cell needs to carry its main nutrients (sugars, lipids, and peptides –pieces of proteins–) across the cell membrane. To do so, it has a number of molecular transporters. Interestingly, although sugar transporters are highly specific to the type of sugar they transport, peptide transporters are not picky at all. This promiscuity has…

In humans, biological sex is determined by the chromosomes X or Y. People having a Y chromosome are typically male, as this small chromosome –which evolution seems to be doing away with– contains a gene which determines the formation of male sexual organs in the embryo. However, despite its small size, the Y chromosome is…

So far, contraception has been practically exclusive to women. They are the ones not only responsible for the matter but also the ones to suffer the brunt of the side effects of current contraceptive methods. Arrdc5, a new gene identified in mice might hold the key to male contraception. This gene, common to several mammal…

Recently, the results of an early human phase clinical trial have shown that mRNA tech can be successfully applied to diseases other than COVID-19, such as skin cancer. Moderna and Merck used an mRNA anti-cancer vaccine based on the same technology used to develop some COVID-19 vaccines, except that instead of using proteins from a…

Intermittent fasting is more than the latest diet fad, it has proven benefits –at least in animals models– against longevity and it appears that it could even improve nerve regeneration, according to new research. The problems with axons in the peripheral nervous system is that their regenerative capacity is not very high. There are certain…