In instructional settings, evolution and natural selection are challenging concepts to teach, due to the fact that these topics are difficult to observe in the laboratory or lecture hall. In the past few years, Avida-ED has emerged as an innovative tool for teaching evolutionary principles. It allows students to directly observe effects of…

The present study has two main goals. First, it aims to examine the analogies an instructor uses about "DNA conservation across generations" in a university-level General Biology course. Second, it aims to examine the analogies used in those lessons according to Thiele and Treagust's framework. A qualitative case study design is adopted…

Teachers often struggle to facilitate open discussions about evolution when they perceive it to be at odds with cultural and religious norms. Little is understood about classroom discourse and teacher-student interactions during the teaching of evolution. This study analyzed classroom discourse and teacher-student exchanges in a 10th-grade biology…

Objective: Understanding the association between polygenic risk for ADHD and cognition throughout aging has not been widely studied. This study aimed to determine whether ADHD risk influences cognitive performance among individuals at both young-old and middle-old age. Method: Participants from the Health and Retirement Study, a biennial survey of…

The field of DNA nanotechnology has grown rapidly in the past decade and has expanded to multiple laboratories. While lectures in DNA nanotechnology have been introduced in some institutions, laboratory components at the undergraduate level are still lacking. Undergraduate students predominantly learn about DNA nanotechnology through their…

Individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS) are hypersocial, overfriendly, and experience social skills deficits that may adversely impact their social outcomes. This study examined the relation between social skills, friendship quality, and feelings of loneliness for adults with WS as reported by 114 parent-adult with WS dyads. Results indicate that…

For 20 years, Molecule of the Month articles have highlighted the functional stories of 3D structures found in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The PDB is the primary archive of atomic structures of biological molecules, currently providing open access to more than 150,000 structures studied by researchers around the world. The wealth of knowledge…

Loss of social supports and community programs due to lockdowns and other measures associated with COVID-19 has been linked to concerns over mental health and feelings of isolation. These challenges can be particularly acute for the elderly and people living with chronic or pervasive health conditions. "Dance for PD," a program…

The present study examined genetic, prenatal, and postnatal environmental pathways in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety and depressive symptoms from parents to early adolescents (when these symptoms start to increase), while considering timing effects of exposure to parent anxiety and depressive symptoms postnatally. The sample was…

Objective: To use a family genetic study to evaluate familial risk of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and common comorbid illnesses in first-degree relatives of pediatric-onset probands with primary OCD. Method: One hundred and thirty youth with OCD and their 133 siblings and 241 parents and 49 pediatric controls were directly evaluated along…

OpenAI's ChatGPT, is a conversational chatbot that uses Generative Pre-trained Transformer or GPT language model to mimic human-like responses. Here we evaluated its performance in providing responses to genetics questions across five different tasks including solid genetic basics, identifying inheritance pattern based on described pedigrees,…

Arithmetic ability is critical for daily life, academic achievement, career development, and future economic success. Individual differences in arithmetic skills among children and adolescents are related to variations in brain structures. Most existing studies have used hypothesis-driven region of interest analysis. To identify distributed brain…

Speech problems affect about 66% of children with classic galactosemia (CG), but limited evidence is reported on early motor and sensory motor development in this at-risk population. Research has been focused on speech and language development, leaving a paucity of data on motor and sensory differences. This paper describes preliminary data…

We aimed to identify unique constellations of sensory phenotypes for genetic etiologies associated with diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). Caregivers reported on sensory behaviors via the Sensory Profile for 290 participants (younger than 25 years of age) with ASD and/or ID diagnoses, of which…

This study explores how capable young children are of thinking about a potential future that uses DNA screening to assess an individual's likelihood of experiencing learning or behaviour difficulties. Puppets and a scenario-based approach were used to ask children aged 4-10 (n = 165) whether they thought DNA screening might be helpful or harmful.…