genetics & genomics, neuroscience

Genetic adaptations for human brain development also make us vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.  

LabCorp might be able to charge a licensing fee to any scientists who wish to sequence the gene HOMER1 in people who may have autism.

Brain organoids engineered to carry the genetic material could reveal how our brains are similar to and different from those of our closest relatives.

Humans living in higher latitudes tend to have a variant of a gene involved in sensing cold temperatures, but it comes with a cost.  

A whole-genome analysis of people who experience color when they listen to sounds points to a handful of genes involved in neural development.

Transcriptional profiling of post-mortem human brains reveals commonalities in the genes over- and under-expressed in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, and major depression. 

After years of obscurity, strains of mice with mutations in particular genes are thrust to the fore of autism research.

Researchers map learning-induced chromatin alterations in mouse brain cells, and find that many affect autism-associated genes.

Three studies—one of mice and two of human genetics—describe the role of two proteins, adenylyl cyclase and melanocortin 4 receptor, in the development of obesity and diabetes. 

From a plastic-munching coral to see-through frogs, here are The Scientist’s favorite images from 2017.

Single-cell genome analyses reveal the amount of mutations a human brain cell will collect from its fetal beginnings until death.

A four-time winner of the USA Memory Championship is helping scientists understand how the brain works.

Meet some of the people featured in the November 2017 issue of The Scientist.

Advances in single-cell technologies have revealed vast differences between cells once thought to be in the same category, calling into question how we define cell type in the first place.

No two neurons are alike. What does that mean for brain function?

Recent advances in single-cell omics and other techniques are revealing variation at genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and posttranscriptomic levels.

One amino acid change within a viral structural protein makes the difference between mild cases of brain damage and severe microcephaly in mice.

The protein encoded by the gene that causes Fragile X in humans partners with another protein, dNab2, to alter gene expression in fruit fly neurons.

The brains of Polistes paper wasps express different genes when identifying faces than when distinguishing between simple patterns, a study finds.

Scientists have identified 40 new genes linked to human intelligence.