Posts from — November 2007
Cat Genome
The BBC reports: Cat joins exclusive genome club
A pedigree cat called Cinnamon has made scientific history by becoming the first feline to have its DNA decoded.
The domestic cat now joins the select club of mammals whose genome has been deciphered – including dogs, chimps, rats, mice, cows and people.
…Cinnamon, a four-year-old Abyssinian cat, is descended from lab cats bred to develop retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, also found in humans, which can lead to blindness.
Earlier this year, with the help of the sequence, scientists found the gene change, or mutation, that causes the condition in cats.
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November 1, 2007 7 Comments
First Amendment?
Who knows: Protest At Marine’s Funeral Costs Church
(AP) A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.
Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
The federal jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.
November 1, 2007 8 Comments
