SCIENCE BOND

The glyptodonts roamed South America for millions of years until the last Ice Age, and some grew as big as cars.  Their physical attributes - notably an impenetrable shell - already placed them as likely cousins of armadillos.  Now, researchers say they are not even a sister group, but a subfamily.  "Glyptodonts should probably be considered a subfamily of gigantic armadillos," said Frederic Delsuc, from the National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) and Montpellier University in France.  Dr Delsuc and his colleagues used computer predictions to reconstruct some likely DNA sequences of armadillo ancestors, based on the genes of living species. They then made RNA "bait" based on these sequences and used it to fish for glyptodont DNA in a tiny, mashed-up sample of shell from a fossil in a Buenos Aires museum.This technique allows scientists to confidently identify real DNA sequences from the ancient target species, without worrying about contaminating ge...

Since its discovery 20 years ago, the use of DNA for human identity and relationship testing has emerged as a powerful tool in both civil and criminal justice systems. DNA testing can reveal whether two or more individuals are related as well as determining the nature of their relationship. Today, it is possible to identify people by a single hair, as well as obtain information about their gender and ethnic background, and, within the next couple of years, identify their age.  Before the advent of DNA testing, human identity testing was largely carried out through blood typing. DNA analysis has now superseded blood testing and is the most accurate method currently available for human identification. The possibility that DNA could be used for human identity and relationship testing had been discussed from the time DNA was first revealed as the molecule which makes people unique. Yet, it was not until the discovery of DNA fingerprinting by Prof. Alec Jeffreys (now Sir...

The genome is the instruction booklet for building a human, comprising three billion paired DNA "letters".  The work shows that early Irish farmers were similar to southern Europeans.  Genetic patterns then changed dramatically in the Bronze Age - as newcomers from the eastern periphery of Europe settled in the Atlantic region.  Details of the work, by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen's University Belfast are published in the journal PNAS.Team members sequenced the genomes of a 5,200-year-old female farmer from the Neolithic period and three 4,000-year-old males from the Bronze Age.  Opinion has been divided on whether the great transitions in the British Isles, from a hunting lifestyle to one based on agriculture and later from stone to metal use, were due to local adoption of new ways by indigenous people or attributable to large-scale population movements. The ancient Irish genomes show unequivocal evidence for mass mi...

Chemisty Nobel prize winner of 2015 Tomas Lindahl and Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar were named as the winners on Wednesday morning at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden.  Their work uncovered the mechanisms used by cells to repair damaged DNA - a fundamental process in living cells and important in cancer.  Prof Lindahl is Swedish, but has worked in the UK for more than three decades.  The prize money of eight million Swedish kronor (£634,000; $970,000) will be shared among the winners. "It was a surprise. I know that over the years I've occasionally been considered for a prize, but so have hundreds of other people. I feel lucky and proud to be selected today," Tomas Lindahl, from the UK's Francis Crick Institute, told journalists.  Claes Gustafsson, from the Nobel Committee, said the recipients had "explained the processes at the molecular level that guard the integrity of our genomes". DNA is open to an onslaught of different phenomen...

Their report, in the journal Nature Genetics, identified genes involved in how the body repairs itself.  Ultimately the findings could contribute to a fertility or menopause test, or lead to new drugs.  The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the results were important for those at risk of an early menopause.  Most women go through the menopause between the ages of 40 and 60. However, what controls that timescale is not completely clear.Comparing the DNA of nearly 70,000 women allowed the researchers to identify the differences between those starting the menopause early and late.  The team at Exeter and Cambridge universities showed that at least two repair mechanisms were involved. The first is used when the eggs are being formed and the woman's DNA is being broken, rearranged and repaired.  The second corrects damage, caused by factors such as smoking or alcohol, throughout a woman's life.  Both would influence the number o...

Urinary tract infections can be treated more quickly using a new DNA sequencing device, according to research. Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) say the device - the size of a USB stick - can detect bacteria directly from urine samples four times more quickly than traditional methods. The technology could lead to faster treatment and better use of antibiotics, they say. The findings were unveiled at a medical conference in San Diego. Prof David Livermore, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said there was a need to move beyond the current "carpet-bombing" approach to treating urinary tract infections (UTIs). "The way to do so lies in accelerating laboratory investigation, so that treatment can be refined earlier, benefitting the patient, who gets an effective antibiotic, and society, whose diminishing stock of antibiotics is better managed," he said. The device can also detect resistance to antibiotics, said Dr Justin  O'G...

The particular dialect and hereditary make-up of the Basque individuals in northern Spain and southern France has confounded anthropologists for a considerable length of time.  One hypothesis suggested that they were an unmixed pocket of indigenous seekers. Presently, a study in PNAS diary recommends they drop from right on time agriculturists who blended with nearby seekers before getting to be disengaged for centuries.  The Basques have one of a kind traditions and a dialect - Euskera - that is random to whatever other talked in Europe, or in fact the world.   Settled in a rocky corner of Atlantic Europe, they additionally demonstrate particular hereditary examples to their neighbors in France and Spain.  It appeared to be consistent that they were agents of a more seasoned layer of populace settlement, yet exactly how far back their roots went has been a theme of civil argument.   Mattias Jakobsson from Uppsala University in Sweden broke down the...