Technology Info Crunch

DAILY NEWS   11 April 2017 Something’s missing… Halfdark/plainpicture   BY    Alice Klein Don’t like the seeds in tomatoes? You might be pleased to know that seedless ones have been created by gene editing. The technique will make it possible to make a much wider range of seedless fruits than is currently available – and also means farmers might not have to rely on declining bee populations. Whether we ever see such fruits on supermarket shelves, however, may depend on how regulators decide to treat gene-edited crops. Several types of seedless fruits, from bananas to cucumbers to grapes, are already widely available, but many have come about by luck rather than design. Seedless bananas are the result of  accidental crosses between subspecies , for instance, while other seedless fruits stem from spontaneous mutations. There are a few seedless varieties of tomato, but they have taken breeders ma...

HEALTH Third Party Content:STAT By   MEGHANA KESHAVAN   @megkesh APRIL 6, 201 C onsumers will soon be able to mail a saliva sample to genetic testing company and get back data on their risk for developing diseases such as Parkinson’s, late-onset Alzheimer’s, and celiac disease. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday granted approval to genetic testing company 23andMe to offer such direct-to-consumer tests for 10 conditions. But Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, urged customers not to take their test results as a sure sign that they will — or will not — develop a particular disease. It’s “important that people understand that genetic risk is just one piece of the bigger puzzle,” Shuren said in a  statement . The FDA’s approval does not extend to diagnostic tests, such as genetic analysis that help determine a  woman’s risk for breast cancer  and that could lead to treatment decisions such...