Category: Genetics

The Amazon molly is an evolutionary enigma: an all-female fish that reproduces by cloning itself. Because it doesn’t mix its DNA with a mate’s, Darwinian logic holds that harmful mutations should pile up over time, eventually…

Scientists and clinicians have been aware of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, for decades, but there is still a lot we don’t know about what causes it. One major challenge is that it…

We have some tools to control bacteria, like antibiotics, but antibiotic resistance is a growing problem that is a threat to public health. Bacterial cells can easily cooperate, which can really help them but…

Acclaimed Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov believed that aesthetic pleasure was a full-bodied experience. Nabokov, who was celebrated for his rich, evocative prose, got what he called a “telltale tingle” when he encountered masterful works…

Advances in genetic technologies have enabled researchers to find regions of the genome that are linked to disease, but it has sometimes been difficult to identify the exact changes within those regions that…

Our bodies perform many critical metabolic reactions, using a wide range of enzymes and other molecules. When there is a problem with one of these metabolism-related molecules because of a genetic defect, a…

The California Department of Public Health has warned people against foraging for mushrooms this year due to an “unprecedented outbreak of severe illness and deaths,” because people are unwittingly…

After Cara and Glenn O’Neill learned of their daughter Eliza’s death sentence, they went to the beach. Before they left, Eliza and her father ran along the sand, holding hands. It was hard to stop, Glenn says, to turn back, pile into the car,…