Enlarge / The entrance to the cave where the Neanderthal thigh bone was found in 1937. Modern humans and Neanderthals have a confusing genetic relationship. One set of data suggests our two species diverged around 650,000 years agobut other clues point to an ongoing close (that is, sexual) relationship between our ancestors that persisteduntil around 300,000 years ago. This is made all the more muddled by the fact that Neanderthals look like they were living in Eurasia 300,000 years ago whileour own ancestors were still in Africa. And then the two groups clearly intermingled once humans did leave Africa. One way to account for all this contradictory information is to suggest that another group of humans left Africa sometime between the Neanderthals' departure and our own. An analysis of Neanderthal DNA, published this week in Nature Communications, adds new weight to this hypothesis. When people talk about DNA, most often theyre talking about nuclear DNA. Thats the DNA that combines genetic material from a mother and a father and sits in the nucleus of each cell. But the mitochondrialittle energy-producing blobsthat sit inside cellshave their own DNA, which comes exclusively from the mother. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a fantastically useful … Continue reading →

Mr. Charmatz said the idea for 10000 Gestures came to him while watching one of his own pieces, Leve des Conflits Extended, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2013. The idea of Leve was that it was based on limited gestures, so you were constantly circling through the sequence, like a living sculpture changing shape, he said. I thought, what if you flip that, and have a piece where none of the dancers ever repeat a gesture or do the same one as anyone else? How do you create 10,000 completely different gestures? Over many, many hours working in a group on various themes, Mr. Charmatz explained. The themes included: doing nothing, microscopic movements (raising an eyebrow, flicking fingers), violence, eroticism, dance history, obscenity, and politics a Brexit means Brexit gesture made by Theresa May is even in there. Each person has a different idea about what an erotic or a violent gesture might be, Mr. Charmatz said, so you get 25 variations on these ideas all happening together. All the themes come in a specific order and last for a predetermined amount of time, he explained, although the number of dancers onstage and the groupings … Continue reading →

TULSA -- What if your DNA could tell you about how to lose weight, or what foods and exercise are best for your health? 2 Works for You's Chera Kimikofollowed 98.5KVOO's Sunny Leigh for two months after she took the DNAFit test to see if knowing her DNA helped her shed the pounds for food. Leigh, the bubbly morning personality on KVOO has no trouble getting people through their morning drive. But she does have trouble navigating her own health and weight loss goals. "I weighed 130 pounds when I moved here," Leigh said. "I still had a big butt and big legs and I always fought that" Dr. Mark Sherwood with Functional Medical Institute said the answer could be in her DNA. "DNA makes up more than 20,000 genes, each carry instructions for a single protein," Sherwood said. "Together they determine how we look and how our bodies function." First things first, Leigh went to see Dr. Sherwood, where doctors got her health information and sent if off to a lab. Life-changing information for her was revealed on live radio. "I've got to be honest, I am absolutely horrified because it seems like I have every possible bad thing … Continue reading →

Judge releases capital murder suspects Tanya Eiserer, WFAA 3:48 PM. CDT July 05, 2017 A Dallas County district judge has ordered the release of two capital murder suspects after prosecutors failed for more than a year to send the DNA of one of the defendants to the lab to be tested. On Monday the judge ordered that Leonte Stone, 24, and Konkun Tarpeh, 25, be released on electronic monitoring and house arrest. The only thing keeping the two men in jail currently are holds from other counties. Tarpeh is being held on a Tarrant County violation on a protective order charge from Tarrant County. Stone is being held from Hunt County for evading arrest and child endangerment charges. By state law, prosecutors have 90 days to announce that they're ready for trial from the day that a person is arrested. That's to keep indigent defendants from just being held in jail in perpetuity. In this case, prosecutors had failed to send Stones DNA to the lab to be tested against evidence collected in the case. District Judge Brandon Birmingham ordered their release on a personal recognizance bond. The DNA testing also cant be done quickly because of a recent issue … Continue reading →