Want to be rich ? Look at your genes!

Are you currently trying to build wealth? It is very trendy lately and this study will give you insights.

According to the authors, there is a relationship between genes and wealth. The analysis was based on the more than 4 000 US Americans. It took into consideration education, parent inheritance and socio-economic background.

In fact, the authors use a "polygenic score" - an index of 74 genetic markers— that robustly predicts education attainement. (Papageorge and Thom, 2016).

The higher is the score, the wealthier the individual can be.

I must write that I did not read a lot of scientific article about this topic but I am a bit worried on the implication about such finding.

Nowadays it becomes easier and easier to have our whole genome sequenced by new next-generation sequencing systems.

Do you think we could end up in world when from a young age, people would know their wealth potential?

My Week in Youtube

More and more, we see scientific videos popping on Youtube. Most are educational. I like a lot this phenomenon because it may draw even more attention to science from the public.
I will share with the ones I found interesting this week. Feel free to recommend me some.

The first one is a funny animation about the scientific method. I was posted by the university of Barcelona.

Looking forward to 2017 science news, check the prognosis posted by Science News.

Happy New Year 2017 !!!

Dear followers,

May this new year bring you happiness and success for you and your family.

When I started the facebook page that led to this blog, my goal was to share with people who like science, the piece of current discoveries I found interesting. I love reading and talking about science. Not only it keeps me updated but it also allows me to share my passion with you. It is true that I biaised by my speciality which is molecular, cellular biology but I like reading about other topics.

Unfortunately, I realise that this principle doesn't lead to a lot of interaction and discussion on the blog nor on the facebook page.

So I would like to ask you, for 2017, would like to read or see different formats ? Let me know what you would prefer to read on my blog/FB page ?

Thanks a lot for your feedback,

The Science I like likes you too :)

Propionibacterium acnes,the most common skin bacteria, secretes a protein with antioxidant capacity.

Nowadays, it is known that almost half of human being are bacteria. We call it microbiome. We read a lot of studies about gut microbiota as it is linked to gastrointestinal diseases.

Interestingly, in this study, the researchers studied skin microbiota.

P. acnes is the most ubiquitous bacteria in skin. It is well known for being associated with acne vulgaris. This bacteria is anaerobe meaning it grows in absence of oxygen. However, the skin can be subjected to several enviromental stress conditions like oxidative stress (ROS). In this study, the scientists show that P. acnes release an enzyme, RoxP that helps protecting the skin from oxydative stress.

RoxP is highly conserved amongst P.acnes strains. Using assays with heme, they showed in vitro that P. acnes acts as an antioxidant.

In previous studies, psoriasis was linked to decrease in P. acnes. We could think that the lack of RoxP is a significant element causing the disease. Other studies need to be led in other to know the extend of the benefit of RoxP.

Please I am thinking of was to improve my blog. Could you please leave me comment below ?

Thanks a lot,