Новости за 02.08.2017

Human eight cell embryo for IVF selection. K. Hardy, Wellcome Images , CC BY-SA

Scientists in the US have released a paper showing that they have successfully edited human embryos to correct a mutation that causes an inheritable heart condition. The findings are hugely important as they demonstrate for the first time that the technology may one day be used safely to edit out many devastating diseases.

Scottish beeches – the slowest invasion in history? Angus Clyne, CC BY-SA

When it comes to deciding which plants and animals to protect and which to remove, our approach might make even the most forthright nationalist blush if it were ever applied to people. The central question in the UK and many other countries is whether a particular species is native or non-native.

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The 2001 discovery of the seven million-year-old Sahelanthropus, the first known upright ape-like creatures, was yet more proof of humanity’s place among the great apes. And yet Mike Pence, then a representative and now US vice president, argues for the opposite conclusion.

Even as citizens took to the streets in their hundreds of thousands to protest and boycott it, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, declared victory in an election that could allow him to rewrite the country’s constitution. The result, which elevates hundreds of representatives to Maduro’s constituent assembly, is highly contentious. The government claims that 8m, or 41.53% of eligible voters, turned out, but the opposition claims that only 2.2m, or less than 15%, actually did.

“I hate endings,” Sam Shepard declared to Carol Rosen in an interview in 1991. “Endings are just a pain in the ass”. Shepard’s own ending, with his death from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease – at the age of 73, is especially hard to take, given his prodigious and ongoing effect upon American theatre, literature and film.

Homes destroyed. Shutter stock

The massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 led to the loss of some 24,000 lives. In the aftermath, there was much finger pointing as authorities tried to figure out why, despite rigorous annual disaster training, so many had died.

Tade Biesinger as Billy Elliot in the West End musical. Alastair Muir/http://billyelliotthemusical.com

If Billy Elliot taught us one thing, it was that dance isn’t just for girls. Now the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) has launched a new project which aims to get more boys on the dance floor and into ballet shoes. It’s a fine aspiration and one which needs more support – but is it really necessary to delve into stereotypical “male” tropes like football and superheros to encourage the next generation of male dancers to come forward? Читать дальше...

Fentanyl: increasingly lethal. Shutterstock

According to new data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), last year saw the highest number of drug-related deaths since records began in 1993. Over half of these deaths involved an opiate such as heroin. Those aged 40-49 made up the largest group dying as a result of drug poisoning. Compared to the general population, this group are dying decades before they should.

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Why are people talking about chickens that have been washed with chlorine?

Jacob Lund/Shutterstock.com

What do the physics of bubbles have in common with the way you and I speak? Not a lot, you might think. But my recently published research uses the physics of surface tension (the effect that determines the shape of bubbles) to explore language patterns – where and how dialects occur.

This year’s Glastonbury Festival saw a closing set to rival the very best. For two hours on a June evening, Radiohead seduced and energised a vast and adoring crowd before delivering a brilliant finale. Thom Yorke’s vocals hung over the English landscape like evening mist, clearing as a choir of 50,000 voices echoed the refrain, joined no doubt by a TV and online audience of millions. For a minute there, we lost ourselves – and it was brilliant.

Employers should be doing more to support breastfeeding mothers. via shutterstock.com

When it introduced legislation for shared parental leave in 2015, the UK was widely praised. The move allowed partners to split the entitlement to state financial support that is available to couples until their child’s first birthday.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging could reveal whether someone knows something they're not telling. John Graner et al/Frontiers in Neurology, CC BY

A man is charged with stealing a very distinctive blue diamond. The man claims never to have seen the diamond before. An expert is called to testify whether the brain responses exhibited by this man indicate he has seen the diamond before. The question is – should this information be used in court?

On the ward. wavebreakmedia/shutterstock

The number of children admitted to hospital as an emergency in England has risen over the last 15 years. This is not due to a deterioration in childhood health, but because of organisational changes, such as access to out-of-hours GP services and changes in the behaviour of parents.

Older patients often suffer from multiple conditions. Shutterstock

Multimorbidity is one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare. In recent years, a succession of research studies have shown that people with multiple health problems are more likely to have a worse quality of life, worse mental health and reduced life expectancy. The more health problems someone has, the more drugs they are likely to be prescribed and the more frequently they are likely to consult a GP or be admitted to hospital. Читать дальше...

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The ability to cheaply and quickly sequence entire genomes is changing the way diseases are identified and treated. But it is also likely to change the way we make some of the most important and personal decisions of our lives: how, and with whom, we have children.