Genetics
- Ecosystems
Cities drive animals and plants to evolve
Biologists are finding that some species have used genetic changes to evolve — adapt — to the pollution and other stressors that they encounter in cities.
- Genetics
How to view tiny parts of DNA? Make them ‘blink’
A new technique can image nanoscale structures in cells without hurting them. No dyes needed. All you have to do is stimulate them with the right color of light.
- Genetics
How to make a ‘three-parent’ baby
Scientists combined an egg, sperm and some donor DNA: The end result: what appears to be healthy babies.
- Genetics
Explainer: How PCR works
The polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is like a DNA-copying machine. It duplicates genetic material over and over. Here’s how.
- Genetics
Scientists find genes that make some kids’ hair uncombable
Scientists have pinpointed three genes that cause ‘uncombable hair syndrome’ in some kids.
- Agriculture
World’s tallest corn towers nearly 14 meters
Short nights and a genetic tweak helped novel corn reach record heights.
- Genetics
Scientists Say: eDNA
Animals may escape traps or nets, but they often leave DNA behind in their environment, giving scientists important clues.
- Genetics
New date for U.S. arrival of the AIDS virus
A new study shows that HIV started circulating at least a decade earlier than previously realized.
- Genetics
Human DNA carries hints of unknown extinct ancestor
A new study suggests people today carry genetic traces of now-extinct species unknown to science.
- Genetics
Young sunflowers keep time
The plants don’t just use light to follow the sun. An internal clock helps their stems bend as the sun moves across the sky.
- Genetics
Explainer: What is epigenetics?
Epigenetics is the study of molecular “switches” that turn genes on and off. Tweak those switches and there could be big health consequences.
- Agriculture
The first farmers were two groups, not one
The humans that began farming 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent may have been two cultures living side-by-side.
