Tag Archives: genetics

Sunday syndrome #5: The anarchist that wasn’t

This is another archival repost from the old blog — this one from January 2008.  The post is part five in a series. The series so far can be found here. In the first installment of Sunday Syndrome I used … Continue reading

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Sunday syndrome #4: Concentrate!

This is another archival repost from the old blog — this time from Nov 2007.  The post is part four in a series. The series so far can be found here. So far in the Sunday syndrome column, we’ve been … Continue reading

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Carefully sabotaging the genome

This is an archive from the old blog, originally written in 2007. The “Thursday Paper” column on the blog is for reporting on a recently published peer-reviewed research. Apologies if this one isn’t so polished, but I have a train … Continue reading

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A brief taxonomy of mutation

This post is an archive from the old blog, originally written in 2007. I’ve been discussing in the “Sunday syndrome” column various disorders caused by genetic aberrations, but I haven’t really explained how such aberrations occur.  There are several different … Continue reading

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Sunday syndrome #3: Fight of the century

This is another archival repost from the old blog, this time from november 2007. The post is part three in a series. The series so far can be found here. Some causes of disease are heritable genetic aberrations. Others are … Continue reading

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Robustness: a new battlefield in the evolution wars?

This is another archival repost from the old blog, originally written in oct 2007. Evolution, from the point of view of the geneticist, is the change in allele frequencies that occurs in populations over time. New alleles are created by … Continue reading

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Sunday syndrome #2: The gene for low set ears

This is another archival repost, this time from oct 2007. The post is part two in a series. The series so far can be found here. Knowing how and why things go wrong tells us a lot about how and … Continue reading

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Thursday paper: Epigenetics and drug tolerance

This is another archival repost, originally from oct 2007. Are you an addict? I bet you are (I saw you gambling addicts coming!). It might be coffee, chocolate, or tobacco, rather than alcohol, heroin, or self-harm, and you might not … Continue reading

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Sunday syndrome #1: Oh God, that’s just morbidly obese!

This is another archival repost from the old blog, originally from oct 2007. It’s not healthy to bottle up your worries and stress. That’s why all the best comedy throughout the ages has dealt with the tough issues that worry … Continue reading

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This name has already been taken

This is another archival repost of something originally written for the old blog in Oct 2007. I apologise for the half-hearted post. I had hoped to write a lot more, but was foiled by migraine, and ran into the deadline: … Continue reading

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The selfish epigene

This is another archival repost from the old blog, originally from july 2007. I started writing this over a month ago, but may have got a little distracted. I’m not entirely sure what point it was supposed to be making … Continue reading

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Science and sci-fi: biochemistry on your PC

This is another archival repost from the old blog, this one from May 2007. The Hollow Man was on the television the other day, confirming once again my belief that hollywood lacks the imagination to make sci-fi even a fraction … Continue reading

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Horizontal transfer and the modern species

This is another archival repost originally written for the old blog in april 2007. Bacteria tend to get ignored to some extent by writers of popular science and science blogs, except in the context of disease and medicine. There is … Continue reading

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An introduction to Down’s syndrome

This is another archival repost from the old blog — this one from march 2007. I wrote this for a one hour timed essay for the “medical genetics” module and the lecturer picked it out for special commendation for its … Continue reading

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