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This lesson, using segments from the PBS series Faces of America, explores the various types of genetic information contained in the human genome. The Introductory Activity examines the structure and composition of chromosomes and DNA, and can be used as a review or introduction to the topic. Following that, students will participate in a hands-on activity reviewing basic Mendelian genetics and the difference between genotype and phenotype. Students will also learn about different ways of tracing ancestry through DNA, and apply that to patterns of human migration and genetic population sets known as haplogroups. In the Culminating Activity, students will develop methods for determining the genetic heritage of their class, school, or community.

This interrupted case study for the flipped classroom introduces the human microbiome from the perspective of one of its occupants, Heidi Helicobacter (Helicobacter pylori).  Heidi lives in the gut of Kristen, a college student, and discusses her fellow microbial inhabitants, functions of these various microbes, and alludes to factors that can disrupt the healthy human microbiome. Students prepare for class by viewing several brief videos and then discuss in class whether Kristen should undergo a fecal microbiota transplant to treat her Clostridium difficile infection.  A lab component has students model, using colored beads, how antibiotics can act as a selective agent for drug-resistant microbes such as C. difficile. The case concludes with Kristen about to give birth to a new baby several years later.  Students listen in as Kristen's microbes discuss the formation of the new baby's microbiome. The case has been used successfully in a general biology class and could easily be adapted for a microbiology, human physiology, ecology, or evolution course.

2 minute animation, (includes full body animation rendition of Australopithicus) A recent study of fossil shoulder bones from a human ancestor reveals that this ancient relative was still well adapted to living in trees, even after the evolution of bipedalism. Studying features like these helps scientists to better understand when modern humans moved away from a partly arboreal lifestyle and transitioned to living exclusively on the ground.

Humans construct boundaries -- around our homes, our neighborhoods, and our nations -- to bring order to a chaotic world. But we rarely consider how these boundaries affect other creatures. In this episode of Think Like A Scientist, we meet conservation photographer Krista Schlyer, who has spent the last seven years documenting the environmental effects of the U.S./Mexico border wall, and biologist Jon Beckmann, who studies how man-made barriers influence the movement of wildlife. Schlyer and Beckmann have seen damaging impacts of the border wall firsthand, but they remain optimistic. Humans probably won't stop constructing walls and fences any time soon, but planning our boundaries with wildlife in mind can help prevent these structures from causing environmental harm.

A handful of scientists around the United States are trying to do something that some people find disturbing: make embryos that are part human, part animal. The researchers hope these embryos, known as chimeras, could eventually help save the lives of people with a wide range of diseases.

In a very short amount of time the human population exploded and is still growing very fast. Will this lead to the end of our civilization?

Curriculum materials for the following topics: HeLa Cells & HPV Genes: Immortality & Cancer, which reviews basic cell biology, tissue culture, and human subjects research in the context of privacy, rights, and compensation. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/hela-cells-hpv-genes-immortality-cancer.html · Eggs & Blood: Gifts & Commodities, which addresses the value placed on some bodily tissues/cells and not on others. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/eggs-and-blood.html · Disease, Disability, & Immortality: Hope & Hype, which explores the natural physical and cognitive variability in the human population and questions the goal of a "cure" in biomedical research. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/disease-disability-immortality-hope-hype.html · Stem Cells & Policy: Values & Religion, which analyzes how policy is shaped in pluralistic societies that require tolerance of different points of view. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/stem-cells-policy-values-and-religion.html

All adult mammals but humans are lactose intolerant. Follow human geneticist Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society, as he tracks down the genetic and societal changes associated with the ability to digest lactose as adults-or lactose tolerance.

A Cornell study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 million to 6 million years ago was profoundly influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning genes on and off.

For the first time, biologists have succeeded in growing human stem cells in pig embryos, shifting from science fiction to the realm of the possible the idea of developing human organs in animals for later transplant.

In this video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life," Eric Lander of MIT's Whitehead Institute explains the effort to decode the human genome -- from motivation to process to importance -- and explains what a genome map can do for science and what it can't -- yet.

Comprehensive archive of the human genome project

About GeneCards®: GeneCards is a searchable, integrated database of human genes that provides comprehensive, updated, and user-friendly information on all known and predicted human genes. GeneCards extracts and integrates gene-related data, including genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, genetic, clinical, and functional information. This is automatically mined from >100 carefully selected web sources, thereby allowing one-stop access to a very broad information base. GeneCards overcomes barriers of data format and heterogeneity, and uses standard nomenclature and approved gene symbols. It presents a rich subset of data for each gene, and provides deep links to the original sources for further scrutiny. GeneCards is widely used, and assists in the understanding of gene-related aspects of biology and medicine.

AMA statement on human cloning

cloning its an interesting topic it has its pros and cons

2:18 Human embryonic development depends on stem cells. During the course of development, cells divide, migrate, and specialize. Early in development, a group of cells called the inner cell mass (ICM) forms. These cells are able to produce all the tissues of the body. Later in development, during gastrulation, the three germ layers form, and most cells become more restricted in the types of cells that they can produce.

This page shows some key events of human development during the embryonic period of the first eight weeks (weeks 1 - 8) following fertilization. This period is also considered the organogenic period, when most organs within the embryo have begun to form. There are links to more detailed descriptions which can be viewed in a week by week format, by the Carnegie stages or integrated into a Timeline of human development. Online resources available include: individual images of all Carnegie stages, scanning electron micrographs of the earlier stages, cross-sections showing internal structures at mid- and late-embryonic, 3D reconstructions of internal structures, animations of processes, ultrasound scans and information about abnormalites of development.

n Wednesday, it happened again. Yohannes Haile-Selassie of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and his colleagues reported finding a jaw in Ethiopia that belonged to an ancient human relative that lived some time between 3.3 and 3.5 million years. They argue that the jaw belongs to an entirely new species, which they dubbed Australopithecus deyiremeda.

Engaging list of 10 human genetic disorders (minimal information of structural mutations)

Researchers have made dramatic inroads into the study of polygenic and other complex human diseases, due in large part to knowledge of the human genome sequence, the generation of widespread markers of genetic variation, and the development of new technologies that allow investigators to associate disease phenotypes with genetic loci. Although polygenic diseases are more common than single-gene disorders, studies of monogenic diseases provide an invaluable opportunity to learn about underlying molecular mechanisms, thereby contributing a great deal to our understanding of all forms of genetic disease.

Comparing features of a 4.4-million-year-old fossil skeleton to those of human and chimpanzee skeletons sheds light on our evolutionary history.