A Danish sperm donor has passed a potentially severe genetic disorder to five children after a screening test failed to catch that he had the disease, health officials said Monday.

More than 1,000 women in Taiwan have their eggs frozen for future pregnancy for reasons ranging from no marriage plans in the near future to physical conditions.

Researchers at Academia Sinica, Taiwan's highest research institute, said yesterday that they have found a possible cause of a progressive, fatal and incurable motor neuron disease.

European and Australian scientists on Sunday said they had snared four more genes that highlight an inherited cause for common migraines.

An international team of scientists said Sunday the largest brain study of its kind had found a gene linked to intelligence, a small piece in the puzzle as to why some people are smarter than others.

Scientists have for the first time created blood platelet cells by reprogramming stem cells derived from adult cells, offering the potential for a renewable supply of the fragile blood component.

Scientists said Sunday they had uncovered five genes linked to the onset of Alzheimer's disease, doubling the number of genetic variants known to favor the commonest form of dementia.

Samples of DNA can give a high-probability estimate of someone's hair color, a finding that will be a boon for forensic scientists, according to a new study published on Tuesday.

Scientists have discovered a way to learn everything there is to know about a fetus's genetic make-up by taking a sample of the pregnant mother's blood, said a study released on Wednesday.

Respiratory infections such as influenza and other causes of pneumonia kill 4.25 million people every year, many of them young children, according to a report released on Tuesday.