genetics

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) For the first time in 81 years the International Congress of Genetics takes place in Germany again.

From July 12-17, 2008, six Nobel Prize winners get together with more than 2000 scientists in Berlin to discuss the latest findings in genetics and genome analysis.

The influence of genetics increases as young women transition from their first drink to alcohol dependence.

Researchers found that although environment is most influential in determining when drinking begins, genes play a larger role in advancing to problem drinking and alcohol dependence.

Perhaps the aging process can't be stopped. But it can be predicted, and new research indicates that people may live longer and lead healthier lives as a result.

Researchers have developed a new biological marker that represents the age of a body's bones. It reveals that the speed of physical aging is strongly influenced by genetics.

What do you learn by looking at the spines of hundreds of Finnish twins? If you are the international team of researchers behind the Twin Spine Study, you find compelling proof that back pain problems may be more a matter of genetics than physical strain.

A new tool for rice genetics allows rice breeders to surgically inactivate genes that confer unwanted properties.

Imagine you are a rice breeder and one day within a large field you discover a plant that has just the characteristics you have been looking for.

You happily take your special plant to the laboratory where you find out that the spontaneous, beneficial event was due to inactivation of a single gene.

This is a great observation; however, there are many different strains grown in different parts of the world, well adapted to the particular region they grow in.