Genetics
- Health & Medicine
In a first, a person’s immune system fought HIV — and won
Some rare people may purge most HIV from their bodies, leaving only broken copies of the virus or copies locked in molecular prisons, from which there is no escape.
- Life
Climate change, not hunters, may have killed off woolly rhinos
Ancient DNA indicates that numbers of woolly rhinos held steady long after people arrived on the scene.
- Animals
How tuatara live so long and can withstand cool weather
Tuatara may look like your average lizard, but they’re not. Now, researchers have deciphered the rare reptiles’ genome, or genetic instruction book.
- Animals
An immune system quirk may help anglerfish fuse with mates during sex
Deep-sea anglerfish that fuse to mate lack genes involved in the body’s response against pathogens or foreign tissue.
- Genetics
A bacterial toxin enables the first mitochondrial gene editor
Researchers have engineered a protein from bacteria that kills other microbes to change DNA in a previously inaccessible part of the cell.
- Genetics
South Americans may have traveled to Polynesia 800 years ago
DNA analyses suggest that Indigenous people from South America had a role in the early peopling of Polynesia.
- Genetics
DNA from a 5,200-year-old Irish tomb hints at ancient royal incest
Ruling families in Ireland may have organized a big tomb project, and inbred, more than 5,000 years ago, a new study suggests.
- Humans
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain genetic clues to their origins
Animal DNA is providing researchers with hints on how to assemble what amounts to a giant jigsaw puzzle of ancient manuscript fragments.
- Genetics
Genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s also raise the risk of getting COVID-19
People who have the APOE4 genetic variant appear to be more vulnerable to the disease, but it’s unclear why.
- Genetics
The oldest genetic link between Asians and Native Americans was found in Siberia
DNA from a fragment of a 14,000-year-old tooth suggests that Native Americans have widespread Asian ancestry.
- Genetics
New hybrid embryos are the most thorough mixing of humans and mice yet
Human-mice chimeras may usher in a deeper understanding of how cells build bodies.
- Humans
A gene variant partly explains why Peruvians are among the world’s shortest people
A gene variant reduces some Peruvians’ height by about 2 centimeters, on average, the biggest effect on stature found for a common variation in DNA.
