Genetics

by Alex Yenkinfigures by Allie Elchert Long before the completion of the Human Genome Project, scientists knew that many common diseases had a genetic component. However, there was debate about the architecture of these genetic effects: were there a…

Scientists have discovered another piece in the puzzle of how tabby cats get their stripes.

Asexual species do not have genetic variability like humans, and most animals, do. Despite that, they can still adapt to environmental changes using modifications to their DNA known as epigenetic changes.

by Samantha Roylefigures by Allie Elchert Have you ever thought about how a single cell can grow into a living, breathing, human? The extraordinary complexity of our thinking brains, wiggling fingers and beating hearts emerges from a single celled…

The DNA from children of Chernobyl survivors has been sequenced and does not show higher levels of mutations than other children.

by Aleks Procherafigures by Shreya Mantri  The past year and a half have been a time of profound uncertainty. We all wish we could gaze into a COVID crystal ball and get answers to our burning questions. Some of us would want to know how long the…

Base repair editing may be the cure for a genetic mutation leading to childhood aging syndrome.

How do you introduce yourself, scientifically? My name is Mia Miyagi, and I’m an evolutionary biologist, which means that I study how the process of evolution works and how that process has generated the incredible biodiversity that we have…

Dinosaurs rose and fell, but one foot-long scaly creature -- the tuatara -- persisted. Recently, the first tuatara genome was sequenced, unlocking insights into the evolution of other reptiles, birds, dinosaurs, and even our own mammalian lineage.

Researchers from John Hopkins University recently developed a newly improved gene editing tool that is extremely fast — it allows genes to be edited within just a few seconds!