Episode 12 Synopsis Some brothel women put out laundry when several baddies folks drive up. A gentleman named Burgess demands to see a pregnant woman, saying the baby is his. He uses a device to sample the baby’s DNA. Meanwhile, aboard Serenity, Wash receives a distress signal for Inara, sent by Nandi, the head companion at the brothel. The Serenity pays a visits to Nandi’s ranch. Jayne is more interested in the women than the job. Simon examines Petaline, the pregnant woman. Nandi tells Inara the odds are 50 50 that Burgess is the father of Petaline’s child. Mal and...
I was just in the midst of catching up on my daily dose of Oprah on Friday, when who should appear on her Friday Live! episode, but Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Alongside her 23andMe co-founder Linda Avey, Wojcicki talked about her Retail DNA Test Kit, which was named Time's 2008 Invention of the Year. For only $399 (a price drop from $1000), you can now purchase one of these kits that are easy to use (you spit in a tube and send it back), and it will be shipped off to a lab where 600,000...
According to Rush & Molloy, the tabloid that broke the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter story now claims it can prove Edwards is the father of her baby: How? We hear that, on the night they caught Edwards visiting Hunter and child at a Beverly Hills hotel, Enquirer reporters grabbed one of the baby’s poopy diapers. Now, say sources, intrepid Enquirer editor David Perel hopes to compare the infant’s stinky DNA with that of Edwards, who has denied paternity. “All they need is a cup he drank from,” an insider tells us. “I will neither confirm nor deny possession of a dirty...
We love a list. Especially this one showing the best inventions for 2008 from Time magazine; it will hopefully give us a heads-up as to which devices, ideas and strategies we’ll all be using in a year or two. Our favourite moments from the list: 1. The Retail DNA test. No, it’s not a test to check whether Tesco’s Terry Leahy really does belong to the great Leahy clan of Ireland or anything like that. It’s a test produced by a company in Silicon Valley, run by the wife of one of Google’s founders. We aren’t sure whether this genetic...
Time names the 23andMe retail DNA test 'Invention of the Year' Solar flare 'reproduced' in labForget the LHC, the Aging Tevatron May Have Uncovered Some New Physics...
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Time Magazine has released its annual Best Inventions issue, and topping the list is the 23andMe retail DNA test, a kit which which offers consumers 23 clinical reports on their genetic risk for everything from Psoriasis to Prostate Cancer. It may not be as well known as last year's iPhone (or YouTube the year before that), but the $399 package might signal a significant revolution in preventative medicine... or it might bring mankind a disturbing new form of eugenics. Whatever you use it for, the process couldn't be easier: the kit comes with a tube that...
Time Magazine has gone through all of the inventions of 2008, from walking chairs to spaghetti forks, and declared to best 50 of the year (and of course, a winner, which was this at-home genetic testing service by 23andMe). Many of their choices are predictable, like the Large Hadron Collider. Some are easy to overlook, like the Global Seed Vault. And others are straight-up controversial, like the baseball instant replay or the game Spore. Time has the full list on their site, but it's divided into 50 different pages. So we've condensed it into easy list form: Time Top 50...
Duncan Riley is reporting that DNA testing service Familybuilder has dropped the test price in half for to $59.95. Riley notes, "Starting October 15, paternal (YDNA) and maternal (mtDNA) tests will be $59.95 each, or combined a low $119.90. This compares to $149/ $179 (total $328) on AncestryDNA or $399 (combined test) from the Google backed 23andme." My question is simple... where's the ad-supported DNA test model? Think about it! For years we've tried to target people based on general characteristics from age, sex, gender, income, etc. We've profiled users based on survey data to attempt to push the right...
Social genealogy service Familybuilder, the company we profiled in June as “Possibly the largest online genealogy service you’ve never heard of” has started a price war in the DNA testing market by offering tests from $59.95. Starting October 15, paternal (YDNA) and maternal (mtDNA) tests will be $59.95 each, or combined a low $119.90. This compares to $149/ $179 (total $328) on AncestryDNA or $399 (combined test) from the Google backed 23andme. Familybuilder will combine its social networking genealogy network of over 20 million family tree profiles on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut and Hi5 to promote the now cheaper DNA...
The city of Vercelli in Italy joined Cologne, Dresden and Tel Aviv this week by adopting a canine DNA test to identify, you know, dog poop. It involves spit-sampling every dog in town to create a DNA database. Owners who don't pick up after their pups will be identified and fined. I'm warning you, folks: This is how it starts. Next thing you know your office manager will be spit-testing everyone to find out who put M&Ms in the espresso maker. It's still not too late to write in Ron Paul and stop all this.(Photo by Roofer 1)...
CULTURE BUZZ – Five years after his father’s body was initially found and cremated (without the authorities conducting an actual DNA test), one man witnessed his dad alive and well…on daytime TV!It’s quite an amazing story, especially now that John Renehan has reunited with his father, helping him piece together his past. Less amazing? An urn filled with the ashes of a stranger. That’s, like, begging for nightmares. Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment » The Best Links: Daddy Lives! See Video Here Video Interview With John Renehan...
SCIENCE BUZZ – Scientists have discovered a gene in human males that regulates vasopressin and predicts whether they’ll be good at long-term relationships.Can we submit Don Draper to a DNA test to find out? Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment » The Best Links: “The first time that science has shown a direct link between a man’s genes and his aptitude for monogamy. “ Monogamy Gene Found in People “People seem to find it comforting to believe that their behavior is predetermined.” Of Voles and Men: My Low Vasopression Made Me Do It! What The Vole Tells...
The man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller gave a jailhouse interview with the Today Show and did not admit to not being part of the famous clan, "I really couldn't tell you. Perhaps at some point we can do a DNA test and find out." But he does claim he grew up in NYC! Rockefeller, believed to be a German national named Christian Gerhartsreiter, gained infamy last month when he kidnapped his daughter during a social worker-supervised visit (his ex-wife had custody). After enlisting someone to drive him and daughter Reigh to NYC's Grand Central Terminal, he hid away till...
