Category Archives: Science and Technology

Identification Techniques for Preventing Infant Mix-Ups

Infant mix-ups in hospitals could happen any day. Steve Kaufer from Inter/Action Associates, a Las Vegas security consulting firm, estimates that 1 out of every 1,000 infants is switched in hospitals. The firm interviewed more than 400 maternity ward employees across the U.S. for a study on baby switching and found that the opportunity exists…

Paternity Testing: Twins With Different Fathers

Paternity DNA testing for twins presents unique challenges that require attention to additional details. Before beginning the DNA testing process on twins who may have different fathers, there are several factors to consider. There are two possible scenarios when the paternity of a set of twins is in question, depending on whether the twins are…

The Polymerase Chain Reaction

In 1993, Kary Mullis received the Nobel Prize for inventing the Polymerase Chain Reaction, also known as PCR. This procedure for making billions of copies of DNA has revolutionized modern biology and has become a standard technique for anyone studying DNA. With PCR, specific DNA sequences from very small amounts of DNA sample can be…

How can a DNA test help me with my search for my ancestors?

Completing your family tree can take many years of tireless research. There are many web sites and other resources that can help you with your search to find long lost relatives or to trace your family’s place of origin. Once you find your possible ancestors or relatives, testing their DNA can give you more concrete…

How To: Get a DNA Paternity Test (Video)

This video provides you with a step-by-step guide to DNA testing. You will learn the different procedures involved in DNA tests and see how easy and painless the process can be. Hear from paternity testing experts on how the process works, from the initial phone call to the final results.

Creating solutions for health and nutrition

Recombinant DNA technology is another major DNA-based tool that has gained popular attention in the past decade. This technology allows scientists to find individual genes, cut them out, and insert them into the genome of another organism. Recombinant DNA technology has applications in health and nutrition. In medicine, it is used to create pharmaceutical products…

Top 10 DNA Paternity Testing Myths Revealed

 10. “I have to wait until the baby is born to have a paternity test done.”   9. “I can’t stand the sight of blood or needles, so I could never participate in a paternity test!”   8. “A $79 test is the right choice for me.”   7. “If I get a test, people will find out…

Solving crimes and mysteries

A large portion of human DNA does not code for genes (units of DNA that contain instructions for creating proteins). These non-coding regions nevertheless contain much information useful for forensic and other human identification applications. Non-coding regions of DNA contain many of the markers used for identity testing. Short tandem repeats (STRs) are sequences of…