From the smallest microbe to the largest dinosaurs and from the tiniest spore to the biggest giant sequoia, biological research continues to uncover weird and wonderful secrets of the creatures with whom we share the planet with – and could soon extend to the study of life on bodies in the solar system beyond our home.
A new study has found that many genes identified as potentially responsible for intelligence, could overlap with a range of conditions from increased lifespan to some autoimmune disorders.
Continue Reading
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are threatening to cast us back into the dark ages of medicine. To fight back, a new “evolution machine” directs the evolution of bacteria by making changes to their environment, guiding them to produce molecules that could lead to new drugs.
Continue Reading
Even though blue whales don't have hands, or even feet, a new study has shown that most of them are in fact right-handed. This can be seen in the way that they feed. Interestingly, however, there's one particular situation in which they tend to go left instead.
Continue Reading
The sooner that you know an invasive species is present in your environment, the better the chances that you can control it before it becomes unmanageable. It was with this in mind that researchers recently detected a species of invasive freshwater clam, by looking for its cast-off DNA.
Continue Reading
Engineered bacteria can be great little workhorses, but they could be dangerous if they were to ever escape from their intended environments. To keep the critters in check, scientists from Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed two types of “kill switches” that can be embedded in their genomes.
Continue Reading
A genetic mutation in an Amish population seems to help them live longer and healthier lives, and protects them from diabetes and other age-related illnesses. A drug that mimics those effects is currently being trialled in humans, and could slow aging, prevent diabetes and even counteract baldness.
Continue Reading
A team at Columbia University has studied the health records of over ten million people across three different countries and discovered some compelling links between a person’s lifetime disease risk and the month they were born in.
Continue Reading
A new experiment from Indiana University has shown how natural selection can create complex traits out of existing genetic “building blocks”, and to illustrate this the team used a relatively simple genetic tool to grow a functional third eye on the forehead of beetles.
Continue Reading
We all have that annoying skinny friend who seems to be able to eat anything and never put on weight, yet others struggle to keep the pounds off despite calorie counting. Now new research has uncovered evidence suggesting a new potential genetic cause behind some cases of obesity.
Continue Reading
Scientists at MIT have developed a new way to carry the CRISPR gene-editing tool to the target genes. Normally the system uses harmless viruses, but patients can develop resistance. The new study has used nanoparticles instead, leading to the best success rate for the technique in adult animals.
Continue Reading
See the stories that matter in your inbox every morning