Genetics
- Genetics
Rare mutations may protect against heart disease
Rare mutations in a key gene seem to lower bad cholesterol and provide protection against heart disease.
- Genetics
Human thoughts control mouse genes
Human brain waves trigger light that activates protein production in rodents.
- Genetics
Genes tell tale of cat domestication
A peek into cats’ genetic makeup may help reveal how hissing wild felines became purring tabbies.
- Genetics
DNA from 37,000-year-old human hints at early European history
DNA from a roughly 37,000-year-old Homo sapiens skeleton supports recent findings about when ancient humans and Neandertals interbred.
- Health & Medicine
Snakebite test correctly IDs attackers in Nepal
A new test that swabs for traces of snake DNA around bite marks can identify the guilty serpent and may improve treatments.
- Genetics
Genes influence Ebola’s impact
A study in a diverse strain of mice shows how the effect of an Ebola infection can depend on genes.
- Neuroscience
Study of psychiatric disorders is difficult in man and mouse
Studying human psychiatric disorders in animals presents a challenge. A new study highlights one of the ways scientists can study human mutations by slipping them into mice.
- Genetics
Men who lose Y chromosome have high risk of cancer
Losing the Y chromosome in blood cells may bring on cancer and shorten men’s lives.
- Plants
How female ferns make younger neighbors male
Precocious female ferns release a partly formed sexual-identity hormone, and nearby laggards finish it and go masculine.
- Genetics
Easter Islanders sailed to Americas, DNA suggests
Genetic ties among present-day populations point to sea crossings centuries before European contact with Easter Island.
- Humans
Oldest human DNA narrows time of Neandertal hookups
A 45,000-year-old Siberian bone provides genetic clues about the timing of interbreeding between ancient humans and Neandertals.
- Humans
Anglo-Saxons left language, but maybe not genes to modern Britons
Modern Britons may be more closely related to Britain’s indigenous people than they are to the Anglo-Saxons, a new genetic analysis finds.
