Genetics

  1. Plants

    How Romanesco cauliflower forms its spiraling fractals

    By tweaking just three genes in a common lab plant, scientists have discovered the mechanism responsible for one of nature’s most impressive fractals.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    How your DNA may affect whether you get COVID-19 or become gravely ill

    A study of 45,000 people links 13 genetic variants to higher COVID-19 risks, including a link between blood type and infection and a newfound tie between FOXP4 and severe disease.

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  3. Genetics

    Embryos appear to reverse their biological clock early in development

    A new study suggests that the biological age of both mouse and human embryos resets during development.

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  4. Animals

    How a gecko named Mr. Frosty could help shed new light on skin cancer

    The distinctive coloring and skin tumors of a type of gecko called Lemon Frost have been pegged to a gene implicated in human skin cancer.

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  5. Animals

    Chinese mountain cats swap DNA with domestic cats, but aren’t their ancestors

    DNA suggests little-studied Chinese mountain cats have been rendezvousing with pet cats on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau since the 1950s.

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  6. Genetics

    A gene-based therapy partially restored a blind man’s vision

    Light-activated proteins inserted in eye nerve cells and special goggles help the man, who lost his sight due to retinitis pigmentosa, see objects.

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  7. Life

    Some viruses thwart bacterial defenses with a unique genetic alphabet

    DNA has four building blocks: A, C, T and G. But some bacteriophages swap A for Z, and scientists have figured out how and why they do it.

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  8. Humans

    Neandertal DNA from cave mud shows two waves of migration across Eurasia

    Genetic material left behind in sediments reveals new details about how ancient humans once spread across the continent.

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  9. Anthropology

    A coronavirus epidemic may have hit East Asia about 25,000 years ago

    An ancient viral outbreak may have left a genetic mark in East Asians that possibly influences their responses to the virus that causes COVID-19.

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  10. Genetics

    Europe’s oldest known humans mated with Neandertals surprisingly often

    DNA from ancient fossils suggests interbreeding regularly occurred between the two species by about 45,000 years ago, two studies find.

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  11. Animals

    A gene defect may make rabbits do handstands instead of hop

    Mutations in a gene typically found throughout the nervous system rob rabbits of their ability to hop. Instead, the animals walk on their front paws.

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  12. Genetics

    ‘The Code Breaker’ tells the story of CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna

    In his latest book, Walter Isaacson chronicles the discovery of CRISPR and delves into the ethics of gene editing.

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