Scientists are on a path to sequencing 1 million human genomes and use big data to unlock genetic secrets [GCN, April 2021]

Title:

Scientists are on a path to sequencing 1 million human genomes and use big data to unlock genetic secrets

 

Author:

Xavier Bofill de Ros

 

Published:

GCN, 16 April 2021

https://gcn.com/articles/2021/04/16/human-genome-all-of-us.aspx

 

From the article:

The first draft of the human genome was published 20 years ago in 2001, took nearly three years and cost between US$500 million and $1 billion. The Human Genome Project has allowed scientists to read, almost end to end, the 3 billion pairs of DNA bases – or “letters” – that biologically define a human being. 

Research led by University of California, San Diego - Evolution: Lab-grown 'Mini Brains' suggest one mutation might have rewired the human mind

Title:

Evolution: Lab-grown 'Mini Brains' suggest one mutation might have rewired the human mind

Authors:

Itzia Ferrer and Per Brattås

Published:

SingularityHub, 7 March 2021

https://singularityhub.com/2021/03/07/evolution-lab-grown-mini-brains-suggest-one-mutation-might-have-rewired-the-human-mind/

From the article:

It has long been unclear which evolutionary changes have been the most important. A team of scientists led by Alysson Muotri at the University of California, San Diego, recently published a study in Science that shed some light on this question.  

 

They did this by growing mini brains—which are known scientifically as “organoids”—from stem cells derived from skin. Brain organoids aren’t conscious in the way we are—they are very simple and do not reach sizes larger than around five or six millimeters, due to a lack of blood supply. But they can emit brainwaves and grow relatively complex neural networks that respond to light.