Genes

A new genetic test may help determine whether a small tumor in the breast is likely to turn in to full-blown breast cancer, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The small tumor, called a ductal carcinoma in-situ, or DCIS, resides in the milk ducts and is generally considered pre-cancerous. But according to the study, DCIS lesions left untreated will eventually progress to breast cancer in about 50% of patients. The lesions, which tend to be small and only detectable via mammogram, have become increasingly common as mammography has become more widespread.

Two years after leading Auburn to the Bowl Championship Series national title, Gene Chizik has been fired as coach of the Tigers. Also losing their college football coaching jobs Sunday were Danny Hope at Purdue and Tom O'Brien at North Carolina State. Of course, Chizik had Cam Newton as quarterback in the 2010-11 season when Auburn defeated Oregon at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., to claim the coveted prize. The Tigers, though, had the biggest two-year slide of any national champion, finishing 3-9 this season.

There's a lot a researcher can learn, it turns out, from studying some cells from a common farm pig. Assembling the genome, or DNA letters, of a domestic Duroc pig named T.J. Tabasco and comparing it with the genomes of the wild boar, the mouse, the dog, the horse, the cow - and yes, the human - members of the Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium were able to determine that Asian and European pig lineages split 800,000 to 1.6 million years ago, suggesting...

Regular listeners to the "Kevin & Bean" morning show on KROQ-FM (106.7) know better than to believe everything they hear on the comedy program - whether it's about the opening of a Mall of America West, or basketball star Karl Malone playing Santa. But the topic Thursday was as serious, and personal, as life and death. Gene "Bean" Baxter announced that he's donating a kidney to longtime KROQ DJ and chief engineer Scott Mason, who first underwent a transplant in 1999, and has been on dialysis since that kidney started to fail in 2010.

Gene Hackman slapped a homeless man Tuesday afternoon in Santa Fe, N.M., in what police are calling an act of self-defense. Hackman, 82 and a longtime Santa Fe resident, admitted slapping 63-year-old Bruce Becker across the face after the latter called his wife a dirty name and approached the couple in a threatening manner as they left a restaurant, police told E! News . Becker called 911 to report the incident, according to the Albuquerque Journal . He was not injured, police said, and Hackman and his wife remained in the area to make a statement.

What makes a tomato taste good … or taste blah? Scientists have a lot still to learn about this, but they've made inroads. They know that sugar matters. They know that acidity matters. Recently, a group of scientists at the University of Florida identified another factor:  chemicals called volatile acetate esters. In a study of nearly 100 heirloom tomatoes, the higher the level of these chemicals in the fruit, the less people like them. Volatile esters are chemicals that impart fruity flavors: Bananas get their signature aroma from a type of volatile ester, as do apples.  Green tomatoes have lots of these esters.

Scientists have demonstrated a new type of gene therapy that would - in principle - allow mothers to avoid saddling their children with rare diseases that could result in heart problems, dementia, diabetes, deafness and other significant health issues. The disorders in question are all due to mutations in one of the 37 genes in our mitochondrial DNA. “Mitochondria are structures within cells that convert the energy from food into a form that cells can use,” according to this explainer from the NIH's National Library of Medicine.

To the naked eye, the white puffs of cotton growing on shrubs, the yellow flowers on canola plants and the towering tassels on cornstalks look just like those on any other plants. But inside their cells, where their DNA contains instructions for how these crops should grow, there are a few genes that were put there not by Mother Nature but by scientists in a lab. Some of the genes are from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis that makes proteins lethal to flies, moths and other insects.

Some of the other notable sports statues around Southern California: STAPLES CENTER: Jerry West Magic Johnson Wayne Gretzky Chick Hearn Oscar De La Hoya ANGEL STADIUM: Gene Autry Michelle Carew USC: John McKay John Wayne Ricky Bell Tommy Trojan Traveler UCLA: Jackie Robinson SANTA ANITA: Seabiscuit John Henry Zenyatta Bill Shoemaker Laffit Pincay Jr. ...

You know how shows like "The X Factor" are supposed to be about giving every little girl who ever sang into her hairbrush in Smalltown, USA, and every little boy who ever moonwalked across his living room in Hard Luck City a shot at realizing his or her dream? Yeah, well, they're also apparently about giving the progeny of world famous celebrities a chance to grab the spotlight, too - at least until the judges' goodwill runs out. Remember Jim Carrey's daughter on "American Idol" last season?