Genetics
- Genetics
Early Polynesians didn’t go to Americas, chicken DNA hints
Contamination of ancient chicken DNA may explain previous report linking Polynesians to South America.
- Genetics
Giant moa thrived before people reached New Zealand
Humans probably caused the extinction of giant wingless birds called moa in New Zealand, DNA evidence suggests.
- Life
Protein linked to motor nerve cells being fast or slow
The protein, Delta-like homolog 1, is made in 30 percent of motor neurons and helps to determine at which speed the cells work, research shows.
- Genetics
Neanderthal Man
The hottest thing in human evolution studies right now is DNA extracted from hominid fossils. Svante Pääbo, the dean of ancient-gene research, explains in Neandertal Man how it all began when he bought a piece of calf liver at a supermarket in 1981.
- Animals
Methylation turns a wannabe bumblebee into a queen
Epigenetic changes to bumblebee DNA turns a worker into a reproductive pseudo-queen, suggesting that genomic imprinting could be responsible for the bumblebee social system.
- Genetics
What your earwax says about your ancestry
Both armpit and ear wax secretions are smellier in Caucasians than in Asians, thanks to a tiny genetic change that differs across ethnic groups.
- Genetics
Genes involved in dog OCD identified
Scientists say they have identified several of the genes that trigger obsessive-compulsive disorder in Doberman pinschers, bullterriers, sheepdogs and German shepherds.
- Humans
Clovis baby’s genome unveils Native American ancestry
DNA from skeleton shows all tribes come from a single population.
- Genetics
Origin of Tibetans’ high-altitude adaptations found
Mixing genes of two ancestral populations gave modern Tibetans their ability to withstand high altitude.
- Genetics
When flowers died out in Arctic, so did mammoths
Genetic analysis finds vegetation change in the Arctic around same time as megafauna extinction.
- Genetics
Chemical changes to genes make twins’ pain differ
Chemical changes to genes may make identical twins experience pain differently.
- Humans
DNA suggests humans moved back into Africa
About 3,000 years ago, human populations from western Eurasia migrated back into eastern Africa, specifically Ethiopia.
