Genetics

Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes Could Help Fight Malaria

Two research groups offer two different solutions to one big problem

The IVF pups were more than 30 years in the making.

These Baby Beagles Are the First Dogs Born by In Vitro Fertilization

After more than 30 years, scientists have figured out how to create healthy puppies in the lab

The cute-yet-contentious tardigrade

Tardigrades Stir Up Controversy and Showcase Science in Action

Rival scientists quickly challenge recently published research about water bears' mysterious genomes

Programming organisms in the Ginkgo Bioworks Foundry

A Boston Biotech Company Is Engineering New Smells

A team at Ginkgo Bioworks is designing organisms that emit specific scents and flavors

Say hello to the tardigrade, an extreme gene machine.

Water Bears Are the Master DNA Thieves of the Animal World

Foreign genes from bacteria, fungi and plants may have bestowed these animals with their ability to tolerate boiling, freezing and the vacuum of space

Five Things to Know About the Genetically Engineered Salmon Approved by the FDA

Sustainable seafood or "Frankenfish"?

There's a dinosaur in every chicken.

Genetic Tweaks Are Revealing the Dinosaur Traits in Living Chickens

A Yale paleontologist is blending fossil studies and bird genes to trace the ways dinosaurs transformed into today's feathered flocks

How Many Genes Does a Body Need?

Only about 15 percent of the human genome or 3,230 genes—that we know of

Giant pumpkins wait in line for their weigh-in at a 2014 competition in Kasterlee, Belgium.

The Secret to Growing the World's Largest Pumpkin

From special seeds to helpful fungi, creating a monster takes more than just sunlight and soil

Archeologists working at the Upward Sun River site in Alaska, where they found the 11,500-year-old remains of two infants

Ice Age Babies Buried in Alaska Reveals Early Genetic Diversity in North America

The infants’ DNA shows that humans may have stayed near the Bering Strait for thousands of years before moving farther south

Genetically Edited Hercules Dogs Can Pack on Extra Muscles

Scientists use a natural mutation that produces extra muscle to tweak dogs genes

This Bronze Age skull is from the Yamnaya culture, which later developed into the Afanasievo culture of Central Asia, one of the peoples that carried early strains of plague.

Plague Was Infecting Humans 3,300 Years Earlier Than Thought

DNA from Bronze Age victims helped pinpoint mutations that allowed the disease to go from localized illness to deadly pandemic

The Rise of DIY Genetic Testing

Some people are skipping the doctor's office and using the internet to order and interpret their own DNA tests

This Gene Might Be Why Elephants Don't Get Cancer

Their large bodies and many cells mean more elephants should be dying of cancer, scientists are trying to figure out why not

Harvesting a cocoa tree

Who Will Save the World’s Chocolate?

As climate change threatens cocoa crops, rival food companies are banding together

A view from Mota Cave in Ethiopia, where archaeologists found the remains of a 4,500-year-old human.

Back to Africa: Ancient Human Genome Reveals Widespread Eurasian Mix

Genes from a 4,500-year-old skeleton from Ethiopia show how migrations shaped modern populations

Another Step Closer to Male Birth Control Pills

A protein might lead to an oral contraceptive for men

Baby tree saplings, cloned from giant redwoods in California, chill out in the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive's propagation area.

The Race to Save the World's Great Trees By Cloning Them

A nonprofit dedicated to preserving old, iconic trees is cloning them in hopes of preserving them for the future

The flat-tail horned lizard's desert habitats in the American West are changing rapidly, thanks to us humans.

Even Desert Lizards Are Feeling the Heat Due to Climate Change

But Smithsonian scientists are probing the flat-tail horned lizard's DNA to save the rare species

Scientists Can Now Sequence a Human’s Genome in 26 Hours

New tools cut sequencing time almost in half

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