Alcohol-linked genes may influence your choice of partnerE+/Getty By Gemma ConroyShould you go on that second date? A gene that influences how much alcohol we drink may also shape our decisions when choosing a partner. It’s no secret that many couples have similar patterns when it comes to alcohol use, but pinning down the underlying reason has been tricky. One explanation could be that a couple’s drinking habits become more alike over time. Laurence Howe at the University of Bristol says previous studies on the link between alcohol use and partner choice have relied mostly ..read more

Genetic tests results could prompt you to have cancer screening, but if the interpretation changes there could be no needThomas Andreas/Alamy Stock Photo By Rachel Horton and Anneke LucassenImagine a doctor tells you that you have a version of a gene called BRCA1 that means you have a high chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer. You might make choices about screening or surgery. You might tell your family so they can get tested too. But now imagine that new evidence suggests that your risk of cancer is far lower than was thought when you had your ..read more

By Hayley Bennett NOT a lot of people know this, but babies are made with a handshake. True, that isn’t all that is involved. Often it starts with two people falling in love. But at some point biology takes over and a sperm must burrow its way into an egg. There is, however, more to the story. On reaching the egg, the sperm meets the zona pellucida, a thick jacket of sugars that only sperm cells have the right biochemical tools to grab hold of. That “molecular handshake”, as Kamil Godula at the University of California, San Diego, puts it, is the most crucial step in the process that gets huma ..read more

Lions are losing their genetic capacity to adapt to changing environmentsSimon Dures/ZSL By Adam VaughanOne of Africa’s last major lion strongholds has experienced a significant decline in its genetic diversity since the end of the 19th century, leaving the animals more vulnerable to future threats. For the first time, researchers looked at how the genetic diversity of African lions (Panthera leo) has changed over time. They discovered that the diversity of the population in the Kavango-Zambezi conservation area, a region that includes parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, h ..read more

By Hayley Bennett NOT a lot of people know this, but babies are made with a handshake. True, that isn’t all that is involved. Often it starts with two people falling in love. But at some point biology takes over and a sperm must burrow its way into an egg. There is, however, more to the story. On reaching the egg, the sperm meets the zona pellucida, a thick jacket of sugars that only sperm cells have the right biochemical tools to grab hold of. That “molecular handshake”, as Kamil Godula at the University of California, San Diego, puts it, is the most crucial step in the process that gets huma ..read more

Polygenic risk scores estimate your likelihood of developing some health conditionsAndrew Brookes/Getty By Adam VaughanThe UK’s health secretary said last week that he had booked a blood test because genetic testing revealed he had a high risk of getting prostate cancer. But a new study suggests that this type of genetic technique may not yet be accurate enough to inform healthcare decisions. Genetic tests for conditions caused by a single gene, such as cystic fibrosis, are already used in healthcare. But many health problems involve multiple genes that each have a small effect, making it more ..read more

Truly inclusive genetic studies will improve treatments for allWavebreakmedia/Getty By Scott WilliamsWe are at the beginning of a revolution in medicine, in which a burgeoning knowledge of the genetics of disease promises treatments tailored to individual needs. But there is a big obstacle in the way: our failure to incorporate diverse, representative populations in our studies. The incomplete knowledge of the genetics of disease and treatment response across populations is not only affecting treatment outcomes for individuals – it is also hampering our understanding of the basic science. Gene ..read more

Crunching your DNA data can reveal the risk of diseaseScience Photo Library/Kevin Curtis/Getty By Adam VaughanAn analysis of the genetic data of millions of people can help predict their risk of developing common diseases and could help the UK’s National Health Service save lives and money, a firm spun out of the University of Oxford has claimed. Genomics plc says it has produced polygenic risk scores for heart disease, breast cancer and 14 other diseases by examining more than 3 million people’s genetic data. Half a million genomes came from the UK Biobank, while the rest were from more than ..read more

Rules on germline gene editing are urgently needednobeastsofierce Science/Alamy Stock Photo By Andy GreenfieldThe World Health Organization (WHO) will convene a meeting this month to develop global standards of governance for human genome editing. This is a welcome move. Although the committee has no powers to enforce compliance – it is still a matter for individual nations to decide on regulations, with China reportedly updating its rules earlier this week – the WHO committee’s recommendations will be influential and far-reaching in their ambition. But I hope committee members will bear a few ..read more

Quite similar, but not identicalDave King/Getty By Michael Le PageA sister and brother in Australia are the second-ever semi-identical twins to be identified. The pair share identical DNA from their mother, but didn’t get identical DNA from their father. Doctors in Brisbane made the discovery in 2014 while caring for the twins’ mother while she was pregnant, but the details have only just been published. Identical twins come about when a single fertilised egg splits in two, meaning they have exactly the same DNA – they are clones. Fraternal twins form when two separate eggs are fertilised by t ..read more