How can we see stars as they first come into being? This month, we’re looking at ALMA – the Atacama Large Millimetre Array – possibly the most complicated telescope to date, that promises to peer into star forming regions.Plus, we chat to some of the winners of the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, and find out what it takes to start taking pictures of the heavens.
Epigenetics and reprogramming – turning back the clock |
Weve all heard of the genetic code – the letters that spell out the instructions in our DNA. But thats not the whole story. Researchers are increasingly digging into the epigenetic code – the marks that tell cells which genes to use and which to ignore. Plus, we take a look behind the headlines about older fathers and autism, find out what chimps can tell us about our cancer risk, and our gene of the month might be mistaken for a heavy metal band.
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In this edition of Naked Genetics |
Full Transcript |
Virtually all the cells in our bodies contain the same DNA. This is the same DNA we were given when we started life as the fusion of an egg and sperm, with half our DNA coming from mum and half from dad. But we have hundreds of different types of cells – from blood to bone, live…
Researchers have found that older fathers tend to pass on more mutations to their children, which might increase the risk of having children with autism or other conditions.
More than 400 scientists from 32 research institutes around the world have published the most comprehensive analysis of the human genome to date in an epic series of 30 papers published in Nature, Science and other journals.
Scientists led by Dr Vardhman Rakyan at Queen Mary, University of London, have shown that purified DNA from Guthrie cards – the filter papers used to collect tiny spots of newborn blood – could reveal important information about the epigenetic state of the childs genome, as wel…
Writing in the journal Developmental Cell this month, researchers led by Dr Anne Voss and Dr Tim Thomas at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia reveal a genetic switch that might explain variations in how severely children are affected by an inherited heart conditi…
A new study in the journal Current Biology shows how sea lampreys get round the problem of controlling when and where to switch genes on and off – they simply get rid of them.
Soojin Yi and her colleagues at Georgia Tech may have found an explanation for why humans are so different from chimps, even though we share 96 per cent of our DNA with our furry friends.
We’ve already heard how epigenetic marks tell cells which genes to use, creating different types of tissue. But is this always a one-way process? And can we ever turn the clock back on cells that have decided their fate? The answer from the lab seems to be yes. To find out more,…
Hi Chris
Love your show on Five Live. I have a question thats been puzzling me recently. At the molecular level how does mutation occur in the gene? How does say exposure to radiation cause a point mutation on the chromosome?
Regards
Kashefa
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Curiosity had barely scratched the surface of Mars when NASA announced another new mission to the red planet. It’s called InSight and Dr Tom Pike, from Imperial College London, will be part of the team. He joins Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Kate Arkless-Gray, along with Mapping Mars author Oliver Morton, to discuss the future of planetary exploration on one of our nearest neighbours. Also this month, how to use a Kinect games console to help dock satellites with news of Strand-2. Plus, as all things Mars threatens to overshadow other planets in our Solar System, Luke Dones from the South West Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, discusses receiving data from Saturn’s rings and why the best is yet to come…