Genetics

A medicine that disrupts the DNA replication of cancer cells may be within reach.

One geneticist is determined to piece together the causes.

Patterns that guide the development of feathers and other features can be set by mechanical forces in the embryo, not just by gradients of chemicals.

RNA and peptides coevolving in the primordial world might have jointly served as a precursor to the modern ribosome.

Breeding a variety that can withstand disease and taste better, too.

As arable land disappears, a genetic tweak might secure the world’s food supply.

DNA mutations are hard to fix. Scientists are trying another approach.

Genome sequencing machines are essential to preventing viral outbreaks, but funding is key.

DNA mutations are hard to fix. Scientists are trying another approach.

The phrase “Look down your nose” comes from a time when aristocrats were taller than commoners due to their superior nutrition. European elites would literally look down on their inferiors. So it shouldn’t be hard to imagine the shock 19th-century aristocrats experienced, across the Atlantic, encountering well-fed American laborers, artisans, and farmers, who would look […]

Imagine you’ve moved into a new neighborhood. You and your new neighbor, Jack, quickly build a friendly rapport and, after a couple weeks, you give him a set of keys, in case of emergency. One day, returning his hammer you borrowed, you see a young guy stumbling out of Jack’s front door, a laptop in […]

Researchers see structural changes in genetic material that allow memories to strengthen when remembered.

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna have been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of CRISPR/Cas9 genetic editing.

Hooking up is nature’s way for a species to overcome a bad genomic match.

The unintentional creation of “sturddlefish” hybrids may illuminate the genomic mechanisms that govern whether species can interbreed.