I rarely do a cut-and-paste article any more, but this one is pretty important. I read this on the Discovery page today. The article is about the leaps and bounds that research is making in wake of the decoding of DNA. It is really important to those with serious diseases or who have loved ones with these diseases. It seems to follow that if they can pinpoint the specific faults in the genes, it would be just another step to finding how to alter the genes so that they could disable the disease. (I just read of a study of autism and the use of DNA to help find a cure. I realize that such cures will take a while to find and test, but there is hope since researchers are making such progress these days.) Here is the beginning of the article and the link to the article:

Quote: Human DNA Discoveries Piling Up

March 31, 2008 -- Scientists are scanning human DNA with a precision and scope once unthinkable and rapidly finding genes linked to cancer, arthritis, diabetes and other diseases.

It's a payoff from a landmark achievement completed five years ago -- the identification of all the building blocks in the human DNA. Follow-up research and leaps in DNA-scanning technology have opened the door to a flood of new reports about genetic links to disease.

On a single day in February, for example, three separate research groups reported finding several genetic variants tied to the risk of getting prostate cancer.

And over the past year or so, scientists have reported similar results for conditions ranging from heart attack to multiple sclerosis to gallstones. The list even includes restless legs syndrome, a twitching condition best known as "jimmy legs" in an episode of "Seinfeld."

Interviews with scientists at the center of this revolution and a review of published studies over the past six months make clear the rapid adoption of the new technology and the high expectations for it. /End Quote

Link: DNA Article

Homepage: National Human Genome Research Institute

This is not the article I planned yesterday. It's much more important!