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Category Archives: Transhuman News

Forecaster Forum: Science isn’t the problem – The Forecaster

Posted: April 17, 2017 at 12:29 pm

Dont blame science. Science didnt do anything wrong, because science cant do anything.

Science is just an idea, a way of studying things that has proven remarkably effective and helpful. But all too often, when humans misuse or misrepresent science, science ends up getting the blame.

Ive been surprised this past month while promoting the upcoming Marches for Science (including the one in Portland) at how many Mainers are angry at science for a wide range of societal problems, from factory closings and job losses to environmental regulations, erosion of morality, and the opioid crisis.

Were not just angry at products of science (such as automation, birth control, and narcotics), or just angry at the companies that make and market those products, but angry at science itself. And many of those who are not angry at science dismiss its importance.

This is crazy. America was built on science, just as much as it was built on freedom and liberty and pioneering spirit. Other countries envy us because of what we have accomplished through science and scientific thinking from putting man on the moon, to developing the internet and smart phones, and new ways of farming that protect us from famine.

Science was a big part of what made America great and will be necessary if we hope to Make America Great Again. And yet a growing anti-science movement seems to have taken over politics in this country, especially but not exclusively the Republican Party, culminating last year in the election of an anti-science president to go along with Maines science-dismissive governor, Paul LePage, who has described himself as Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular.

This is sad because science not only is not the problem, but science can provide guidance toward solutions if we use it. Because science works. And not just for scientists.

Scientific thinking and methods were developed to provide protection against human reasoning errors we all face: confirmation bias, availability and representativeness heuristics, and cognitive dissonance, among others. Tendencies that get us by most of the time, but still and all too often lead us into emotional reasoning and decisions we later end up regretting.

I understand that science can be frustrating not just difficult to put into practice, but often giving us answers we dont like. And there are plenty of questions science cant answer, like which is more immoral: permitting abortion or taking away a womans right to choose? But even then, science can provide information to inform the decisions we make about such issues information thats much better than just going with our gut.

Yes, science has become political. (To those scientists who have objected to the March for Science on April 22, Im sorry, but its too late for that.) But science doesnt have to be partisan. Science is not owned by any political party, and pro-science voters can decide to whether a candidates commitment to science (or not) is more important than whether they are Republican, Democrat or independent. And if enough of us did that, wouldnt that make an important point?

So, on April 22, I will be marching for science, because I believe in science and believe science needs supporters in the current anti-science climate. And I hope you will join me. If you do, there are a lot of Marches for Science to choose from more than 400 around the world and four here in Maine. Ill be at the march in Portland, which starts at 10 a.m. at City Hall (you can also march in Orono, Sanford, or Machias). If you do, take your kids. They are our future, so its important they learn that science is important, too.

Gordon Street is aclinical psychologist in Raymond, and a former newspaper reporter.

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Forecaster Forum: Science isn't the problem - The Forecaster

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How President Trump Could Jumpstart Space Settlements – The Federalist

Posted: at 12:29 pm

Since Donald Trump became president in January there has been much speculation about his future space policy. Will he declare the moon his goal, and task NASA to take astronauts there? Or will he aim higher, doubling down on the push for Mars that NASA has been selling for the past six years? Or will he leave the exploration to private companies and citizens while squeezing NASAs budget into irrelevancy?

None of these choices are actually good ones. All repeat presidents failures since the 1960s to accomplish anything very striking in space. Since John F. Kennedy, subsequent presidents from Nixon to Reagan to Bush to Clinton to Bush to Obama have all copied Kennedy, making a Kennedy-like space speech that committed the nation to some wonderful space goal by some significant date.

None of those commitments have been met. Some never even happened. Instead, all we have done since the Apollo program is go around in circles, spending gobs of taxpayer money without getting much of anything for it.

If Trump wants to truly lead the United States and world into the exploration and settlement of the solar system, he needs to do something different and game-changing. He also needs to shift the federal governments focus away from building spaceships and rockets and towards its much more basic legal responsibilities, especially when its citizens wish to establish their mark in new territories.

Trump should propose a system that would allow the nations of the world to claim territory in space. Only by doing that will colonization and settlement of the solar system be finally possible.

To do this will involve renegotiating or repealing the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, first passed in 1967. While that treaty has many good features, such as making nations liable for any damage caused by any object they launch, its fundamental purpose has been to forbid any nation from claiming sovereignty on any territory in space, a restriction that has been increasingly recognized as a fundamental obstacle to settling the solar system.

For example, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have all been recently reviewing their laws in an effort to promote the development of space. Some (Japan, Luxembourg, and the UK) have made proposals, but each has been limited by the restrictions of the Outer Space Treaty and have dealt only with Earthbound regulatory and liability issues.

Of these nations, Luxembourgone the worlds biggest investors in private enterprise in spacehas made the most effort to overcome the Outer Space Treaty. To encourage asteroid mining by private Luxembourg firms, they have proposed having their laws apply to the resources mined, not the territories themselves. As a result, the proposed law is very complex (thus raising development costs for private companies) while requiring a large bureaucracy. More importantly, it does nothing to legally protect the ownership of actual in situ space-mining operations. The Outer Space Treaty does not allow that.

These nations are actually late-comers to this issue. In the United States, Congress has been trying for decades to come up with a regulatory framework allowing for private development in space while still adhering to the Outer Space Treaty. All of these efforts have failed. Private enterprise in space is simply impossible under the UN treaty, since any private investment by individuals or companies remains exposed and unprotected legally.

Yet it is a governments fundamental job to establish an overall legal framework for its citizens. This is what the U.S. government did so well when the nation was forging westward and establishing new territories beyond the Mississippi River. Except for several relatively simple efforts like the Lewis and Clark expedition, the government never mounted a big government program to settle the west. Instead, it laid out the legal framework and territories under which the American population could do the settling, and then got out of the way.

So what should Trump do? At this moment he has a wonderful opportunity to put his stamp on the future, and steer the entire human race to the stars. Trump should propose a new Outer Space Treaty, superseding the old, that would let nations plant their flags in space. This new treaty should establish the rules by which individual nations can claim territory and establish their law and sovereignty on other worlds or asteroids.

The American homesteading acts of the 1800s could work as a good guide. Under those laws, if an American citizen staked a claim and maintained and developed it for five years, that claim and an accompanying amount of acreage would then become theirs.

In space, Trump could propose that in order for a nation to make a territorial claim, a nation or its citizens must establish a facility. If they occupy and use it for a minimum of five years, that nation can claim it, plus a reasonable amount of territory around it, and place it under that nations sovereignty.

Obviously this new Outer Space Treaty will require negotiation. For example, how much territory should each claim allow a nation to possess? One hundred square meters? A thousand? Ten thousand? Such a number must be determined by negotiation between the nations involved.

Similarly, what claims should the United States have on the landing sites it has already established on the moon and Mars? Does the United States already own the Apollo sites? Shall the United States claim all the territories its Martian rovers have travelled? Such questions will need discussion and negotiation.

Once such a system is in place, however, it will be possible for the United States, Luxembourg, Japan, the United Kingdom, and all other spacefaring countries to establish their legal systems on any territory in space they successfully claim. Private efforts by either individuals or companies within those territories will then have a framework under which they can protect their capital investments and property as they work to profit from their efforts.

Under this context, Trump should also push for a new American law that would apply to any American private effort in space. Once again, the homesteading acts can form a good framework. Under a new American homesteading act for space, American citizens could claim ownership of any real estate in space under U.S. jurisdiction, after they have established and maintained a claim on it for a period of years.

The size of territory private citizens claim should reflect their needs, as did the homestead acts of the 1800s. In the west it was found that 160 acres was sufficient for farmland, but desert claims needed to be larger, 640 acres, for farmers to succeed on them.

In space we do not yet know the right size for a self-sufficient homestead claim. Too small, and the homestead will not be viable. Too large, and we leave no more room for later settlers. As a start we could begin with 250 hectares, which is comparable to 640 acres, and adjust later with experience. Other nations could do some variation of the same, following their own national and cultural dictates.

Such an international and national framework would serve many laudable purposes. It would encourage competition and exploration, as every nation and person in the world would have an incentive to get there first to stake their claim.

No need to use force to establish control. The law would do it for you.

More importantly, it would provide a peaceful framework for every nation to settle and gain territory in space. Military conflict would be made irrelevant. You get there and build your base or colony, and the territory would be recognized as yours, by every nation on Earth. No need to use force to establish control. The law would do it for you.

Finally, this framework would allow for nations that believe in freedom and private property to establish their laws in space. Freedom and the American Constitution will be given an outlet throughout the solar system. Based on the success that system had in building the United States, this can only lead to good things.

President Trump has an opportunity now to change the nature of space exploration. To do so he needs to act boldly, and make fundamental political changes to the way the international community has been exploring space for the past half century. Having the government try to build the ships and rockets has not worked. Instead, we need the government to do its real jobestablishing lawwhile leaving the shipbuilding and profit-making to the citizens themselves.

If Trump does this, the future will be bright and exciting. If he doesnt, space exploration will continue to drift.

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How President Trump Could Jumpstart Space Settlements - The Federalist

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Are You Related to the Person You Married? – Healthline

Posted: at 12:28 pm

The joke that married couples can appear similar may in fact be due to the tendency for couples to marry someone from a similar ancestry whether they are aware of it or not.

Thats according to a new study published recently in PLOS Genetics.

In the first ever investigation into mating patterns across multiple generations in the United States, researchers examined genetic similarities between spouses in three generations of families.

The participants took part in the Framingham Heart Study, which has examined the heart health of residents in Framingham, Mass., since 1948.

The researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the Boston University School of Public Health, and the University of California San Francisco found that of the 879 spouse participants, those from Northern European, Southern European, and Ashkenazi backgrounds were more likely to choose a spouse from the same ancestry.

Read more: Love your spouse? Prove it on Facebook

The researchers say choosing a partner from a similar background could be due to a number of reasons.

Mate choice reflects a large number of factors including local geodemographics, social class, nationality, ethnicity, religion, anthropometric traits such as height and weight, as well as behavioral characteristics, the researchers wrote.

These patterns may also have reflected neighborhood characteristics, and the tendency for unions to occur locally.

The study found that those from later generations were less likely to choose a spouse from the same ancestry.

Intermixing between participants with Northwestern and Southern European ancestries was relatively uncommon in the original cohort but increased in subsequent generations, they wrote.

This may be due to the tendency for younger generations to move around more frequently.

While unions historically have been preferentially local, increased movements of the population over past decades are contributing to the decay of local endogamy, as seen in Framingham, the researchers found.

Read more: Nagging wives makes husbands healthier

Genetic similarity within a population is of particular significance in the area of genomic studies as it can lead to false positives in identifying gene regions associated with disease.

It can also impact estimations of the degree to which a disease may be passed on genetically.

Over several generations, the tendency for people to pick a mate from a similar ancestry has resulted in a genetic structure that has potential to bias results of genetic studies.

Professor Peter Ralph from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Oregon, says that in small populations, genetic similarity can also have health consequences.

In very genetically similar populations there are often increased risks of some genetic diseases, because it is effectively more likely someone gets two broken copies of some particular gene.In practice, this only shows up in very small populations, or ones that have been very small in the recent past, he told Healthline.

Ralph emphasizes that the findings of this study shouldnt be misinterpreted.

There is an implication in some of the news about this study that there's some genetic cause that makes people find more similar spouses but that's not supported by this study at all [or claimed by the authors], he said.

Noah Rosenberg, PhD, is a professor of population genetics and society at Stanford University. He says the research could pave the way for improving genetic studies of disease.

Many research methods in human genetics rely on an assumption that people choose mates randomly within a population. Although this of course is not how people choose mates, real populations often are close enough to random mating for the research methods to work properly, he told Healthline.

This study disentangles the component of nonrandom mating that is due to assortative mating by ancestry, evaluating changing preferences that people have had over time in a New England town for mates from similar ancestral backgrounds. It finds a way to improve genetic studies of disease to account for the effects of assortative mating by ancestry.

Read more: Do you have relationship OCD?

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Are You Related to the Person You Married? - Healthline

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David Suzuki: Citizen science and genetic testing yield positive results – Cowichan Valley Citizen

Posted: at 12:28 pm

Barcode of Life is a project to identify and store information on the worlds living things. (barcode for life website photo)

Since I started working as a geneticist in the early 1960s, the field has changed considerably.

By David Suzuki

Since I started working as a geneticist in the early 1960s, the field has changed considerably. James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins won the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. Researchers then cracked the genetic code, which held promise for fields like health and medicine. It was an exciting time to be working in the lab.

More than 40 years later, in 2003, an international group of scientists sequenced the entire human genetic code. Researchers can now find a gene suspected to cause a disease in a matter of days, a process that took years before the Human Genome Project. As of 2013, more than 2,000 genetic tests were available for human conditions. Forty years ago, I never dreamed scientists would have the knowledge and manipulative capabilities that have become standard practice today.

In a couple of decades, genetics has allowed for systematic inventorying of the worlds biodiversity. Canadas Centre for Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph has the genomes of more than 265,000 named species identified with barcodes in its database. The cost to analyze a sample against this free public database is about $10. Cost reductions and digital communication allow citizen scientists to utilize an enormous storehouse of information.

Young citizen scientists in San Diego were recently able to help compile information about the areas biodiversity through their local libraries. Kids signed out genetic testing kits which included sampling vials, tweezers and a return bag through Catalog of Life @ the Library. They then uploaded photos and locations of their finds using a LifeScanner app or website. Its part of an effort to collect 4,000 samples of local bug life. After returning kits to the library, the young scientists could go online to see and compare the genetic barcodes of their discoveries.

According to the library, Only an estimated 20 per cent of species on earth have been identified by their DNA barcode. The San Diego program is part of Barcode of Life, which has the ambitious goal of identifying all life on Earth to help researchers understand the diversity of species, monitor the health of the environment and the impacts of climate change. Canadas Centre for Biodiversity Genomics is doing the genetic sequencing.

People in Canada can also help identify seafood fraud with the LifeScanner service. Genetic testing helps consumers identify the species and possibly origin of fish they buy important for people who care about sustainability and health and nutrition.

Identifying and tracing seafood has long been a challenge, especially because about 40 per cent of wild-caught seafood is traded internationally and labelling is often inadequate. Once fish are skinned, cleaned and packaged, its not always easy to tell what they are. If you buy something labelled rockfish in Canada, it could be one of more than 100 species. Often, labels dont indicate whether the fish were caught or processed sustainably. Although the European Union and U.S. require more information on seafood labels than Canada, one study found 41 per cent of U.S. seafood is mislabelled.

A European study found stronger policies combined with public information led to less mislabelling. People in Canada have demanded better legislation to trace seafood products. More than 12,000 people recently sent letters to government asking for better labelling.

SeaChoice (the David Suzuki Foundation is a member) is working with LifeScanner to register 300 people in Canada to test seafood, in part to determine whether labels are accurate. Participants will get testing kits, buy seafood, collect data and images and return samples in a provided envelope. Samples will be analyzed and coded, with results posted online.

With the help of citizen scientists, genetic testing can offer a powerful approach to righting environmental wrongs. Combining crowd-sourced scientific data, public policy reform and consumer activism is already showing positive results. The same approach could work in areas such as testing for antibiotics, pesticide and mercury residues and more.

DNA Day is celebrated in Canada on April 21 and the U.S. on April 25, to commemorate completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and discovery of DNAs double helix in 1953. Weve come a long way since then, but we still have much to learn. Citizen scientists are helping!

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington.

Learn more at http://www.davidsuzuki.org.

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David Suzuki: Citizen science and genetic testing yield positive results - Cowichan Valley Citizen

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A Pastor and Geneticist Join Together in Hunt for Jesus DNA – KETV Omaha

Posted: at 12:27 pm

A Pastor and Geneticist Join Together in Hunt for Jesus DNA
KETV Omaha
For its Easter special The Jesus Strand: A Search for DNA, the History Channel wanted to combine religious history and science. Angeli Kakade (@angelikakade) has the story. Advertisement. Frightened elephant fights crocodile snapping at its trunk. Vuz |.

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A Pastor and Geneticist Join Together in Hunt for Jesus DNA - KETV Omaha

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Calif. pastor’s faith joins science in History Channel’s hunt for Jesus … – USA TODAY

Posted: at 12:27 pm

USA Today Network Donna Orozco, Visalia (Calif.) Times-Delta Published 3:44 p.m. ET April 16, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

For its Easter special The Jesus Strand: A Search for DNA, the History Channel wanted to combine religious history and science. Angeli Kakade (@angelikakade) has the story. Buzz60

Pastor Joe Basile and Oxford University geneticist, George Busby, on St. John's Island in the Dead Sea at the actual dig site where a box was discovered containing bones and teeth that some believe to be the actual bones of John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin.(Photo: Submitted)

How do you go from a Chicago rapper to a Biblical expert sought out by the History Channel to go to the Holy Land to do an Easter Sunday special on the DNA of Jesus?

Its been a long, incredible road for Joe Basile, lead pastor of both the Encounter Road Church in Visalia and the Encounter Church in Clovis.

Suffice it to say, he was chosen by the History channel to work with Oxford University geneticist George Busby, combining faith and science to search for Jesus DNA.

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The History channel really wanted accuracy, Pastor Joe said. We used the Bible as a map combined with science. My role was to make sure we didnt get out of bounds.

The two experts used the latest scientific advances in DNA to investigate the worlds most famous holy relics, including the Shroud of Turin, The Sudarium of Oviedo and the newly discovered bones of Jesus cousin, John the Baptist.

The result is The Jesus Strand: A Search for DNA,a two-hour special airing at 9 p.m. Eastern on Easter Sunday.

Getting chosen for a project like this sounds too good to be true, said the tattoo-covered Pastor Joe. I even told the church, this probably isnt real, but theyre interested in me.

After being interviewed and chosen as the Biblical expert for the show, he spent 25 days with Busby and a film crew going to holy sites from Spain and Italy to Israel and the shores of the Black Sea.

By extracting and analyzing samples of holy relics at each site, they hoped to retrieve a sample of DNA that possibly belonged to Jesus or a member of his family.

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The goal was to see if they could find a strand of Jesus DNA, which could help identify descendants of Jesus and provide new insight into the man many consider to be the most important person in history.

We were able to go to places no one else gets to and look at artifacts that are pretty incredible, Basile said. It was a life-changing moment for me.

Oxford University geneticist George Busby and Pastor Joe Basile in Israel on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, described in the Bible as the place from which Jesus ascended into heaven.(Photo: Submitted)

They looked at some of the oldest Bibles and ancient texts at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, one of the most celebrated libraries in the world.

In Turin, Italy, they were allowed to do tests on the Shroud of Turin, recorded in the Bible as the burial shroud that wrapped Jesus.

The Vatican has only allowed two tests of it, Basile said. They allowed us access to their testing, and we did some tests ourselves.

In northern Spain, they viewed the Sudarium of Oviedo, the cloth that both tradition and scientific studies claim was used to cover and clean the face of Jesus after the crucifixion.

On St. Johns Island off the coast of Bulgaria in the Black Sea, they tested the bones found in 2010 believed to be those of John the Baptist.

Crossing the Black Sea to the Island of St. John was incredible, Pastor Joe said.

Of course, the entire trip was an amazing experience for him.

The big joke was watching me react, he said. I cheered; I laughed. I said Im going to cry a lot. This was very personal for me.

Science and religion do not always agree on historic artifacts. George and I had to discoverme from the Bible, him from sciencewhat is honest, Basile said.

John Verhoff, programming executive producer of the History channel, explained the challenge.

Because of the tremendous leap in DNA technology in the past few years, there was a discussion to see if we could access some of the most famous religious relics and test for DNA. The idea was to see if we could reveal new information about the relics as well as find something that might point to the historic Jesus. We wanted to see if science could deepen our understanding of Jesus, the man.

The channel wanted to show a balanced view.

Pastor Joe Basile in London at Oxford University's Bodleian Library doing research with ancient Bibles and artifacts.(Photo: Submitted)

Joe has a strong faith as well as genuine curiosity. He was open to investigating the historical Jesus. Joe is someone who could balance the religious aspect of this journey along with the historic and scientific.

It was an exhausting process.

Every night, I was studying on whatever the experts were going to talk about the next dayscriptures, history, location, languages, Basile said. I saw all my studies come to life. The entire journey surprised me.

My goal was for Jesus to come off the pages and come to life. I think we found some interesting things.

Basile wouldnt reveal any of those things, saying people would have to watch the show to learn their discoveries.

Basile grew up in a large Italian-American Catholic family in Chicago, the youngest of 10 children.

After having what he described as a "powerful moment in an evangelical Protestant church," he went on a spiritual journey,Basile said.

He enrolled at Trinity International University as Biblical studies major, becoming the first person in his family to graduate from college, Basile said.

"Honestly, it was a tremendous thirst for answers. It started with my first Bible. I created my own concordance in the back of my Bible of passages that provided clear answers to pressing questions," he said. "Every time I filled up the back, I gave that Bible to a new Christian and I created a new one.

Basile started a church in his hometown, moved to L.A. to start a church and was approached to host three reality shows on religion, which were never sold.

More recently he came to Fresno as pastor of the Fresno First Baptist Church, and two years ago started his church in Clovis. When the pastor of The Road Church in Visalia retired, the two churches merged.

Basile has been on the Jim Franklin show on KMJ radio multiple times and was asked to defend the resurrection from an intellectual perspective. His church is on TV on the CW channel every Sunday morning.

So he was a logical choice for the History channels exploration.

During the trip, the unconventional pastor was able to have fun and laugh at himself.

Im Italian but had never been to Italy," he said. "Theyre all slender, handsome and tall. What happened to me?

But mainly he hopes this show will spur more investigation.

"I grew a lot. My heart is full. The people were wonderful. Im honored, Basile said. It shows that for a guy who lives in the Valley, God can use me to do pretty cool stuff.

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Calif. pastor's faith joins science in History Channel's hunt for Jesus ... - USA TODAY

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The DNA of a killer. Who killed Angie Dodge? – KTVA.com – Anchorage, Alaska

Posted: at 12:27 pm

Estimated read time

9m 38s

Correspondent: Anne-Marie Green; Producers: Judy Rybak, Elena DiFiore, Lindsey Schwartz and Chris OConnell

Nearly two decades after 18-year-old Angie Dodge was brutally murdered in her Idaho Falls, Idaho, apartment, police were still hunting for the killer who left his DNA at the crime scene, while a man who did not match the DNA was serving a 30-year sentence for participating in the crime.

In 2014, police took a new and very controversial approach to try to find a match to that DNA. They searched a public DNA database owned by Ancestry.com, hoping to find someone related to Angies killer. They got a close enough match to make them think they had found the killers family tree and there they found what they believed to be their man: a young New Orleans filmmaker who happened to have produced a short film about a girls brutal death.

But was he?

Nobody every thinks that theyre gonna get picked up by the police and taken into an interrogation room and questioned about a murder, filmmaker Michael Usry Jr. told 48 Hours. When it happens to you, its definitely a game changer.

Michael Usry Jr. (CBS NEWS)

Michael Usry Jr: The ability to kill is obviously somewhere in all of us. Because it happens every day across the country.

Michael Usry Jr: Two-and-a-half years ago my wife and I, we were livin in New Orleans having a good time. living there in The Big Easy.

Michael Usry Jr.: And I was working in the movie business. Ive produced and had directed a few short films.

Michael Usry Jr: Murderabilia got me the reputation of being a person who is really into murder. And things like that.

Michael Usry Jr: My name is Michael Usry. Im a filmmaker and was a suspect in the Angie Dodge case.

1996 news report: Nineteen-year-old [sic] Angie Dodge was murdered last week, the latest violent crime in Idaho Falls.

Det. Patrick McKenna | Idaho Falls Police Dept.: At least one of the weapons used in it was a knife.

Chief Mark McBride | Idaho Falls Police Dept: As the officers arrived at the crime scene and found Angie Dodge laying on the ground And it was obvious that there was a very brutal murder that happened. A lot of blood.

Det. Patrick McKenna: Its sad to see an 18-year-old girl, and see her life taken at the hands of somebody else in this fashion.

Carol Dodge: Angie was my only daughter and shes my baby. Ill never stop missing her.

Chief Mark McBride: During the investigation we collected all the evidence; we came across a significant amount of DNA that we believe is from the killer.

Anne-Marie Green: Would you say that this crime scene provided really good evidence?

Greg Hampikian | DNA expert: Excellent evidence You had a neat semen sample.

For nearly two decades police could not find a match to the killers DNA, so in 2014, they went way outside the box, and searched a public DNA database owned by Ancestry.com.

Carol Dodge: It led us to this Michael Usry Jr. Who just happened to be a filmmaker.

Det. Patrick McKenna: Films of homicide um kind of a murder mystery filmmaker.

Det. Patrick McKenna: It was pretty creepy. We had Louisiana State Police call him.

Det. Patrick McKenna: He had agreed to come down to the state offices there in New Orleans.

Michael Usry Jr.: the majority of the time that I was in the interrogation room, I just didnt know what they were talkin about. They finally had to look at me and go no we think that you, Michael Usry we think that youre involved in this murder case.

Det. Patrick McKenna: My whole purpose is to find who killed Angie Dodge.

HOW THE FILMMAKER BECAME A SUSPECT

Carol Dodge: Grief has no time limit I just cant, I cant let go. I cant let go of her.

Carol Dodge lost her daughter, Angie, when she was just a teenager.

Carol Dodge: She was just discovering who she truly was and wanting independence. she says, Just let me grow up. Let me make my own mistakes. You know, you dont need to watch me, you know, you dont need to be my shadow.

It was the summer of 1996 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, a mostly Mormon community, where neighbors knew each other by name, and doors were rarely locked, says Chief of Police Mark McBride.

Chief Mark McBride: It was a very, really a very quiet, peaceful town overall.

Just three weeks before her death, 18-year-old Angie got her own apartment.

Carol Dodge: I saw her the night that she was killed. She said, Its so hard growin up. and she laid her head on my shoulder and we just kinda rocked back and forth. And Im so grateful for that moment extremely grateful that [crying] my last words were that I love her.

The next morning, Angie didnt show up for work at a local beauty supply store.

Chief Mark McBride: We got a phone call at our 911 center about 11:00 in the morning and one of her friends at work came to check on her and the door was unlocked. She went in and she found a body laying there on the floor and a very bloody crime scene.

There was no sign of forced entry, but there were signs of a struggle.

Anne-Marie Green: You think she fought for her life?

Chief Mark McBride: Yes, I do.

Angie was stabbed and cut 14 times and left half naked. There were no signs of rape, but the killer ejaculated, leaving behind what DNA expert Greg Hampikian calls a pristine profile.

Greg Hampikian: Its a single profile, complete identification. One man to the exclusion of everyone on the planet.

Police tested the DNA of dozens of local men but couldnt get a match. So, for months, they interviewed everyone Angie knew, including Christopher Tapp. Although his DNA didnt match and he denied any involvement, after more than 28 hours of interrogation over 23 days, Tapp confessed to participating in Angies murder.

Detective: You were there correct?

Chris Tapp: Correct.

Anne-Marie Green: Did you know Christopher Tapp?

Carol Dodge: No. Didnt know had no clue.

Tapp told police that the night of Angies death he and two friends stopped by her apartment. During an argument, Tapp claimed one of his friends started stabbing Angie while he held her down.

Detective: Youre holding her down, OK, while shes being cut, youre holding her down while shes being

Chris Tapp: Cut.

But when Tapp went before a judge, he pleaded not guilty.

Carol Dodge: I said, You beast. You horrible beast How could he do this to my daughter?

The defense argued Tapps DNA didnt match the killers, but on May 28, 1998, it took the jury only 13 hours to reach a verdict: guilty.

Nearly two years after Angie Dodge was murdered, Chris Tapp faced his punishment with Carol Dodge glaring at him:

Judge: You are guilty of the crimes of murder in the first degree and rape.

Tapps sentence: 30 years-to-life. But the murder of Angie Dodge was still an open case. Remember, Chris Tapp did not match the DNA and he wouldnt tell police who did.

Carol Dodge: I just couldnt understand why he would go to prison and take a life sentence and not give the other person up.

Tapp did give authorities several names, including someone named Mike.

Detective: How sure are you that his first name is Mike?

Chris Tapp: Im dead positive.

But police could never make a DNA match. So the case went cold, but not for Carol Dodge.

Carol Dodge: I never stop looking for the actual person who matches the DNA. Its one individual. Thats the person Im looking for.

By 2009, the killers DNA had been entered into the national criminal databaseknown as CODIS, but there was still no match. So, Carol Dodge called well-known DNA expert Greg Hampikian.

Greg Hampikian: I had this message. They dont know who killed my my daughter.

By then, there had been many advances in DNA technology, and with Hampikians help, Carol Dodge pushed authorities to make use of a controversial new search process called, familial DNA. It looks for anyone who might be related to Angies killer.

Greg Hampikian: Which means going into that database in Idaho of the convicted offenders, and looking for a family member that might match this DNA partially.

Erin Murphy: Two places, D.C. and Maryland passed a law that says no familial searches are allowed.

New York University law professor Erin Murphy wrote Inside the Cell: The Dark Side of Forensic DNA, and says theres real privacy concerns with familial DNA searches.

Erin Murphy: The states that I think are worried about this are worried about maybe we can use your DNA to see if your brothers breaking the law or if your dads breaking the law, or your sons breaking the law.

Idaho doesnt allow familial searches in their criminal database, so Greg Hampikian made an even more controversial suggestion: a familial search through public databases.

Carol Dodge: Im the one that went to the Idaho Falls Police Department and the prosecution saying we need to do this.

Imagine you are one of millions of Americans who have opened a DNA home test kit, spit into a test tube, and then send your DNA to a commercial database. That database now owns your DNA profile and you may not realize it, but police might be able to access it.

Chief Mark McBride: Were interested in solvin a crime and were gonna use any technique we can that we can legally use.

In the summer of 2014, detectives searched a public DNA database owned by Ancestry.com and they got a hit.

Greg Hampikian: I was told they got 34 out of 35 markers.

Anne-Marie Green: Is that good?

Greg Hampikian: Yeah. Thats thats a good investigative lead.

It was a close enough match to make Det. Patrick McKenna think they had found a relative of Angies killer. So police got a warrant for Ancestry.com to reveal his identity. It was a man named Michael Usry Sr.

Det. Patrick McKenna: We know its not that individual or we would have had 35 out of 35 on that, so thats when we started doing research into the family.

That led investigators to suspect Usrys son, Michael Usry Jr.

Detective McKenna wondered if this could be the Mike that Chris Tapp once named:

Det. Patrick McKenna: And then we started researchin him and the films that he was making, and it was a little eerie to think that that could possibly possibly be a solid suspect in the case.

A CONFESSION?

Anne-Marie Green: I have to ask you this question. Do you have a particular interest in murder?

Michael Usry Jr.: I I dont have a particular interest in murder. You know

DNA leads to arrest in murder of jogger in Massachusetts – USA TODAY

Posted: at 12:27 pm

Associated Press Published 7:50 a.m. ET April 16, 2017 | Updated 22 hours ago

Massachusetts police have arrested a man in connection with the August killing of woman who had been out jogging in the woods, a case that closely resembled a second daylight murder in New York City less than a week earlier. USA TODAY

Driver's license photo released by the Worcester County District Attorney's Office shows Vanessa Marcotte, of New York, whose body was found Aug. 7, 2016.(Photo: AP)

PRINCETON, Mass. - DNA evidence and an attentive state trooper helped find the man authorities believe killed a New York City woman last summer who was out jogging near her mothers Massachusetts home, authorities said Saturday.

Good afternoon. We got him, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. proclaimed at a news conference Saturday outside the police department in Princeton, a small community of about 3,500 residents in central Massachusetts. Its about 40 mileswest of Boston.

Were very comfortable that weve got Vanessa Marcottes killer, Early said.

The body of 27-year-old Marcotte was found Aug. 7 in some woods about a half-mile from her mothers house, where the young woman was visiting family. Marcotte, who worked as an account manager for Google in New York, had gone out to run several hours earlier.

Police said throughout the investigation they believed Marcotte fought her attacker and the suspect had scratches on his face, neck and arms. On Saturday, Early said DNA taken from Marcottes hands during an autopsy helped solve the case. The DNA was used to help create a profile of a suspect, which was released two months ago. It also matched the DNA of 31-year-old Angelo Colon-Ortiz, who lives in nearby Worcester and who police believe was working in the area at the time of Marcottes attack.

Its through her determined fight and her efforts that we obtained the DNA of her killer, Early said.

Colon-Ortiz was charged Friday with aggravated assault, aggravated assault and battery and assault with intent to rape. Early said more charges are expected.

The district attorney credited an alert state trooper assigned to the detective unit with recently spotting a dark SUV, the type of vehicle witnesses reported seeing in the area. He said that trooper also noticed the driver matched the profile released in February, which determined the suspect in Marcottes killing was a Hispanic or Latino man, about 30 years old, with light- to medium-toned skin, an athletic build and is either balding or has short hair.

Unable to find a piece of paper, Early said the trooper wrote down the vehicles license plate number on his hand. He then looked it up, visited the home of Colon-Ortiz and left a business card, asking him to call. When Colon-Ortiz didnt respond, the trooper later returned to the home and obtained a voluntary DNA sample from Colon-Ortiz. That sample was determined to be a match on Friday and Colon-Ortiz was subsequently arrested.

He was being held Saturday at the state police barracks in Millbury on a $10 million bond and is scheduled to appear in Leominster District Court Tuesday. Early said Colon-Ortiz, who speaks limited English, has requested an attorney.

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DNA leads to arrest in murder of jogger in Massachusetts - USA TODAY

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Researchers locate control center for DNA breaks during cell division – Phys.Org

Posted: at 12:27 pm

April 17, 2017 by Stephanie Dutchen Cell nuclei light up in the reproductive organ of a worm. Modifying a particular protein (green) by adding a phosphate group (red) sends a signal to stop breaking DNA. Credit: Priah Nadarajan

Breaks in DNA can wreak havoc in the body, giving rise to cancer and other health problems. Yet sometimes cells rupture their own DNA for a good reason.

During meiosis, when cells divide to become sperm and eggs, making and repairing DNA breaks helps lock together pairs of chromosomes so they can exchange genetic material and continue on their reproductive journey.

But even "good" breaks need to be controlled before they get out of hand, and so, once chromosomes have been paired up, something tells the DNA-snapping machinery to shut down. What exactly gives the command, however, has eluded researchersuntil now.

Studying the reproductive organs of tiny worms called Caenorhabditis elegans, a team of Harvard Medical School scientists has identified a trio of proteins that staff the DNA-break control center. If the same proteins operate the controls in humans, the researchers say, the finding could suggest new ways to rein in runaway DNA breaks throughout the body to avert cancer, infertility, miscarriages and birth defects.

Genetics professor Monica Colaicovo, postdoctoral fellow Saravanapriah Nadarajan and colleagues reported their discoveries in the journal eLife.

The team found that a pair of enzymes, polo-like kinases 1 and 2, sense when two chromosomes attach at a DNA break site. The enzymes then begin to sound the "no more breaks needed" alarm by sticking a chemical tag onto proteins called SYP-4. SYP-4 is part of a zipper-like structure that holds chromosome pairs together during meiosis.

The researchers watched through a microscope as a wave of this tagging, known as phosphorylation, started at the break site, shown above in green, and spread out, shown in pink, in both directions along the zipper until it reached the ends of the chromosomes.

"We think this makes the chromosomes less accessible to the machinery that makes the DNA breaks," said Colaicovo.

The researchers discovered that phosphorylation not only blocks additional DNA breaks, it also helps stabilize the zipper.

"Having a more stable zipper probably helps disseminate the 'stop' signal," said Colaicovo.

Further experiments showed that "when you mess up the ability to modify SYP-4, the cells never stop making double-strand breaks," Colaicovo added. As a result, worms with uncontrolled DNA breaks had problems with their eggs that led to infertility or sterility, Nadarajan revealed.

Having answered a fundamental question about how DNA breaks are controlled, the researchers are now wondering whether their discoveries apply to humans.

A look at sperm and egg precursor cells in mice and humans turned up a promising lead: Proteins that form the equivalent zipper are similarly phosphorylated by polo-like kinases.

Explore further: Researchers find chemical tag that locks chromosomes together during meiosis

More information: Saravanapriah Nadarajan et al. Polo-like kinase-dependent phosphorylation of the synaptonemal complex protein SYP-4 regulates double-strand break formation through a negative feedback loop, eLife (2017). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.23437

Journal reference: eLife

Provided by: Harvard Medical School

Chromosomes perform an intricate dance inside the nuclei of cells undergoing meiosis (dividing into sperm and eggs). One stumble can lead to infertility, miscarriage, birth defects or tumor formation.

Where would we be without meiosis and recombination? For a start, none of us sexually reproducing organisms would be here, because that's how sperm and eggs are made. And when meiosis doesn't work properly, it can lead to ...

A team of researchers from the biology department at TU Darmstadt has discovered that the processes for repairing DNA damage are far more complex than previously assumed. The ends of breaks in the double helix are not just ...

Monica Colaicovo has made a career of studying meiosis, the type of cell division that produces eggs and sperm. Meiosis is essential for healthy reproduction. Chromosomal abnormalities resulting from errors in meiosis cause ...

Crossovers and double-strand DNA breaks do not occur randomly on yeast chromosomes during meiosis, but are greatly influenced by the proximity of the chromosomes telomere, according to research in the laboratory of Whitehead ...

The genetic information we receive from our parents in the form of chromosomes are mosaics assembled from the two copies of chromosomes each parent has. How such cutsor breaksin our genetic material are repaired is ...

Scientists at the University of California, Davis have discovered that DNA sequences thought to be essential for gene activity can be expendable. Sequences once called junk sometimes call the shots instead.

The hot springs of Yellowstone National Park may be extreme environments, but they are host to a diversity of microbes that could shed light on the evolution of life on Earth and, perhaps, what lurks on distant planets.

Breaks in DNA can wreak havoc in the body, giving rise to cancer and other health problems. Yet sometimes cells rupture their own DNA for a good reason.

How some industrial pollutants or abnormal levels of cellular metabolites contribute to diverse human diseases is now more clearly understood, based on a new study from the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center (UWCCC) ...

Cocaine, nicotine, capsaicin. These are just three familiar examples of the hundreds of thousands of small molecules (also called specialized or secondary metabolites) that plants use as chemical ammunition to protect themselves ...

A Florida Museum of Natural History study provides new insights into the complex, shared history between blood-sucking lice and the vitamin-producing bacterial sidekicks that enable them to parasitize mammals, including primates ...

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Who are DNA? Britain’s Got Talent magic act who left Simon Cowell speechless – all you need to know – The Sun

Posted: at 12:27 pm

The duo had a number of celebrity fans before they even stepped onto the BGT stage

A MAGICAL thing happened on Britains Got Talent: Simon Cowell was left speechless.

The act responsible was DNA a magic double act who wowed the audience and judges with their mind reading skills on the first episode of the latest series.

Syco/Thames/Dymond

But what do we know about them and their act?

Darren, 29, and Andrew, 43, are a magic act called DNA andare well known in the industry.

They have worked at a number of corporate events and also as consultants for big name films.

The duo, who hail from Essex, have won accolades Gold Star Member of the Inner Magic Circle and The Magic Circle Close Up Magician of the Year for their work.

According to their website, they have previously entertained Fearne Cotton, Boris Becker, Bradley Walsh, Lenny Henry and Davina McCall.

Simon was called on stage and asked three questions to choose the number of a front door on an imaginary house, the colour of the houses lounge walls and the name of a celebrity sitting inside it.

The media mogul looked sceptical as he wrote down his answers that he had chosen at random in his mind.

When he read out his answers, 717, turquoise and Sir Roger Moore his jaw dropped when he turned to see the act had written the exact same thing has him.

Incredibly, throughout the sketch both Andrew and Darren had managed to change their clothes without a single person realising.

There have been a number of magicians who have trod on the BGTstage - though not a lot have been successful.

But last yearRichard Jonesbucked the trend, beating the odds to bag the title, a slot on the Royal Variety Show and 500,000.

He nowstars in his own TV show which sees him entertaining his fellow troops and forces sweetheart singer Katherine Jenkins.

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Who are DNA? Britain's Got Talent magic act who left Simon Cowell speechless - all you need to know - The Sun

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Category Archives: Transhuman News

Forecaster Forum: Science isn’t the problem – The Forecaster

How President Trump Could Jumpstart Space Settlements – The Federalist

Are You Related to the Person You Married? – Healthline

David Suzuki: Citizen science and genetic testing yield positive results – Cowichan Valley Citizen

A Pastor and Geneticist Join Together in Hunt for Jesus DNA – KETV Omaha

Calif. pastor’s faith joins science in History Channel’s hunt for Jesus … – USA TODAY

The DNA of a killer. Who killed Angie Dodge? – KTVA.com – Anchorage, Alaska

DNA leads to arrest in murder of jogger in Massachusetts – USA TODAY

Researchers locate control center for DNA breaks during cell division – Phys.Org

Who are DNA? Britain’s Got Talent magic act who left Simon Cowell speechless – all you need to know – The Sun

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