A new blood test has been developed that promises to be able to effectively track the progression of breast cancer at its earliest stages. It is suggested the blood test could track the efficacy of drug therapies better than current imaging techniques and prevent unnecessary surgical procedures.
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Under the right conditions, DNA can last for thousands of years. RNA, on the other hand, degrades much more quickly and was thought impossible to recover in older samples. But now researchers have isolated and sequenced the RNA of a 14,000-year-old wolf found frozen in the Siberian permafrost.
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The human genome can tell us where we’ve come from, and it’s hiding more than a few surprises. Now researchers from the University of Adelaide have found evidence of two unknown, archaic human species in modern DNA.
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A Stanford University team is developing plants that can better absorb iron from the soil. By making it easier to ingest the trace mineral, it may be possible to open up the roughly one-third of the world's arable land that is unsuitable for growing staples like maize and soybeans.
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Mitochondrial DNA in plants is so complex that scientists haven’t yet been able to edit the genes in there. Now a team of Japanese researchers has managed to do just that, which could help improve the genetic diversity of crops.
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Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have demonstrated a prototype of a drug that can release three active ingredients, at different times in sequence. The key to this unusual and useful ointment is artificial DNA, which breaks down at precise intervals.
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A completely new category of microscopy has been invented by researchers in the US. Dubbed DNA microscopy, the technique tags RNA molecules with a range of DNA "barcodes" which in turn flag the identity and location of the molecules, even when they're stacked on top of each other.
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While exploring the “dark heart” of the human genome, geneticists have now found some of the most ancient pieces of DNA, inherited from Neanderthals and an as-yet-unknown human relative, which may be affecting our sense of smell to this day.
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The CRISPR gene-editing system is a powerful tool, but sometimes cutting and pasting can have unwanted side effects. Now researchers from MIT and Harvard have developed a new CRISPR-based system that can insert new DNA sequences without cutting, which should make the process safer and more accurate.
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When farmers find sickly plants in their crops, it's important that they find out which malady is responsible, as quickly as possible. New microneedle technology could help, paving the way for a handheld device that would provide the answer within minutes, right in the field.
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