Monthly Archives: October 2013

Jewish Moms

Posted on October 8, 2013 by gcochran9

For some time, we have known that many Jewish populations  had mostly-Near Eastern  paternal ancestry (looking at y-chromosomes) and mostly-local maternal ancestry  looking at mtDNA). Autosomal admixture studies generally agree. This is easiest to see when the host population is … Continue reading →

Posted in Ashkenazi Jews, Genetics | 123 Comments

Low-Hanging Poop

Posted on October 3, 2013 by gcochran9

Clostridium difficile causes a potentially serious kind of diarrhea triggered by antibiotic treatments. When the normal bacterial flora of the colon are hammered by a broad-spectrum antibiotic, C. difficile often takes over and causes real trouble.  Mild cases are treated by … Continue reading →

Posted in Low-hanging Fruit | 63 Comments

Who can you trust?

Posted on October 1, 2013 by gcochran9

I was working out the plot for a science fiction novel, and developed a scenario in which nation-states get into a real competition, something like the Manhattan Project crossed with the space race. The nation that wins gets all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 47 Comments

Let the good times roll?

Posted on October 1, 2013 by gcochran9

A new paper in PLOS Genetics claims to have found a higher frequency of deleterious mutations in the exome of French Canadians than in the French.  French Canada was founded by a small population (effective Ne about 2900),  but I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments