genetic (Page 6)

We now know that genes make us fat, which came as a surprise to many of us. Most of us have always assumed we inherited our height, and now researchers have identified the gene that makes us tall (or short). And why in the world do some of us have straight hair, while other people’s hair is curly?

In LiveScience.com, Charles Q. Choi writes that scientists have discovered that curly hair gets less tangled than straight hair. French biophysicist Jean-Baptiste Masson asked hairdressers count tangles the tangles in the hair of over 200 people for a week. 123 of these people had straight hair and 89 of them had curls. It turns out that straight hair gets tangled almost twice as much as curls.
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Scientists have developed a database of genetic information from Iceland’s small population, where everyone is related to everyone else, and have new clues about what causes both mental and physical illness. This information is finally helping to answer the age-old question: how much of what happens to us is due to nature (genes) and how much to environment? “I believe the majority of human destinies have a genetic component,” says Dr. Kari Stefansson.
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Don?t blame yourself for your bad behavior, blame it on your genes. A lot of things that go wrong in life can be traced back to our genetic make-up.

Scientists have found that if you have a commonly-found mutation in a gene, you?re more likely to become addicted to drugs. This is the gene that controls the cannabinoids in the body, which are the feel-good enzymes we carry around with us naturally, without taking drugs. They act on the same neuroreceptors as marijuana and give us a natural ?high.? These enzymes control the reward and addiction pathways in the brain.
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Four scientists have leaked information about research that produced a genetically-modified bacteria capable of destroying all life on earth.

Elaine Ingham, a soil ecologist at Oregon State University, was part of the team that prevented the bacteria from being released into the environment. She said that the bacteria had already been approved for field trials when its lethal effects were discovered.

The genetically engineered klebsiella planticola bacteria was created to turn crop residue, left over after plants have been harvested, into alcohol. The organic sludge remaining from this process would have then been returned to the fields as fertilizer.
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