Should I try to breed out the parts of me I don't like? Or is it ok to make super neurotic kids? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Aug 17, 2009 - 19 answers

Wild hair, related to this. I am of truly unknown Northern European ancestry (closed adoption). My hair was brown with auburn highlights before charging on to grey over the past couple years. My abundant beard was always about 30% bright copper red. Am I a redhead gene carrier?
posted by mwhybark on Jun 22, 2009 - 13 answers

Help me find a video/article about a race experiment. [more inside]
posted by GrooveStix on Jul 6, 2008 - 2 answers

Are there any studies, past or present, devoted to the idea of deriving precise time of either conception or birth from DNA analysis? For conception, I can imagine a science fiction author describing a rhythmic pattern or pulse emitted by something in the DNA whose beats are somehow recorded somewhere, like the veritable second hand of a clock. For birth time I'm a little fuzzier on the possibilities, but one idea that occurred to me was the studying the effects of direct light (sun or artificial) on a baby's chromosomes when exposed for the first time (not counting any rays that might penetrate the womb through the mother). There is also the telomere clock to consider, about which I know very little.
posted by christopherious on Dec 12, 2007 - 16 answers

A friend of mine is a gifted writer. Her brother is a songwriter, her mother is a painter, her father was an artist and her grandfather was a famous writer AND painter. Does creativity come in the genes? What does science say? [more inside]
posted by up!Rock on Jun 27, 2007 - 15 answers

Where can I get a specific gene tested for mutations/polymorphisms? [more inside]
posted by wireless on Dec 3, 2006 - 17 answers

MolecularBiologyFilter: How can knocking out one copy of a gene have the same effect as a mutation that leads to increased activity? [more inside]
posted by greatgefilte on Dec 23, 2005 - 17 answers

I just received my results from the Genographic Project and they are confusing. Can someone explain my mitochondrial DNA to me? [more inside]
posted by scazza on Jul 14, 2005 - 14 answers

Are there really such things as "scars on chromosomes" and "X vs. Y" 'wars' between the male- and female-determining genes? [more inside]
posted by rleamon on May 8, 2005 - 15 answers