Science News

Last week, researchers in Iceland announced the completion of a large project to sequence the genomes (or complete DNA) of 2,636 of their fellow countrymen. The Icelandic data base is being called a “treasure trove” of information that will further scientists’ understanding of diseases that are not caused by one single genetic mutation, but instead to mutations on several different genes.

In his blog posted on March 17, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins asks a provocative question: “What Makes Our Brains Human?” He then provides at least a partial answer to that question with the help of some new science out of Yale.

Read a summary of the National Institute of Health’s 2015 Alzheimer's Disease Research Summit.

An international research collaboration has uncovered some clues to macular degeneration’s onset, namely, the discovery of a microscopic mineral “scaffolding” around which drusen deposits—a hallmark sign of the early stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD)—begin to form.

Congratulations to Julianne Moore, star of “Still Alice,” on her “Best Actress” award at the Golden Globes. The film, which opens January 16, portrays the struggle of a college linguistics professor who experiences early Alzheimer’s.