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...
Time Magazine released its list of the 50 best inventions of the year. The winner? A home DNA-testing kit. The Speedo LZR is on the list, and so's the spinning skyscraper, the memristor, three different electric cars, and a new ping pong serve. There are a couple surprises (namely, the LHC didn't come in first! Holla back, Hadron!), and a few head-scratchers. Annoying blog posts came in at #42. Srsly?(more...)...
Photograph by EssG on Flickr From the Gothamist Newsmap: A large crowd at 8th Ave & W 142nd St in Manhattan, a fall victim at Fulton St & Bridge St in Brooklyn and a bomb threat on Beach 12th Street in Queens. A NYC schools official on leave to head Barack Obama's Nevada campaign died of a heart attack yesterday. Mayor Bloomberg said, "Terence was not only somebody who was one of the most likeable people in the world, he was one of the most hardworking people in the world. He had great judgment and a great feel for...
Time's Anita Hamilton is refreshingly honest about why the magazine has picked 23andMe, the mail-order DNA testing outfit, as one of its top innovations of 2008: Anne Wojcicki, the startup's cofounder, is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin. Few outlets are as forthright in displaying their motivations for celebrating 23andMe, arguably the least innovative and least scientific of the retail DNA tests on the market. Give Anne Wojcicki a prize, and her loyal husband will attend the awards ceremony. It's a great way to get Googler star power on the cheap....
Filed under: Wine, Italy, FallFor years, no one really knew where Zinfandel came from, so in typically American style, we made it our own. Zin became California's grape like Riesling is the grape of Germany and Pinot Noir is the grape of Burgundy. California Zinfandels are often similar to Americans themselves: loud, brawny, a barbeque lover with bold flavors and plenty of opinion. Zinfandel inspires such passion in the U.S. that it even has its own professional organization, aroma wheel, and annual festival. Finally scientists did DNA testing on Zinfandel and discovered it came from the same stock as Italian...
The discovery at a Virginia aquarium marks the second time scientists have used DNA testing to verify what would have been a "virgin birth"—if the pups hadn't died....
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...
CSI Wildlife Returns The first episode of CSI Wildlife was about finding ivory poachers using DNA forensics. This new installment is bigger and better. 2 new eco-crimes! How Does it Work? "The growing databases of animal genes and falling costs of DNA testing have given wildlife researchers and environmentalists a powerful new tool to identify new species and protect endangered animals. Scientists now know the genetic signatures of some species so well that they can tell what region or population it came from by examini......
Nobody likes stepping in dog crap. That's why there are laws in most major cities that require you to pick up after your dog. Unfortunately, it's tough to enforce and many people just ignore it. The solution? Elaborate and expensive DNA testing, of course. The Israeli city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, has just launched a six month trial program that will have local dogs DNA tested so their droppings can be identified after being scraped off the bottom of your shoe. The system will work both as a way to punish poop-leavers as well as reward...
Photograph of San Gennaro carnage at Spring and Mulberry by Dan Goldstein From the Gothamist Newsmap: A male down a manhole at 2nd Av & E 86 St in Manhattan, an unusual trauma at Seward Ave in Queens, and a perp search at Bronx Blvd in the Bronx. Two young children were shot by stray bullets in Queens and Brooklyn.An elderly couple was found dead, from shots in their heads, in a Union Square apartment this afternoon. Parking permits for public school teachers may have been slashed, but private schools are keeping their permits. Someone might be documenting his/her...
Genomic testing companies scored a major victory yesterday when the state of California licensed Navigenics and 23andMe, the high-profile standard bearers of the testing industry, to do business in the state. Both companies were among 13 sent cease-and-desist letters by laboratory testing regulators in June. At the time, the state regulators struck what seemed like a hardline stance against any direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Though it's unclear where Navigenics or 23andMe changed their actual procedures, the state appears to have reconsidered its take on the legality of their services. "I think we’re very satisfied that they have met the California...
