In cancer research, one person's junk is increasingly becoming another person's treasure. Scientists have uncovered new evidence showing how recently evolved "junk DNA" genetic elements can become ...

Knowing how human DNA changes over generations is essential to estimating genetic disease risks and understanding how we evolved. But some of the most changeable regions of our DNA have been ...

What makes the human brain distinctive? A new study published in Cell identifies two genes linked to human brain features and provides a road map to discover many more. The research could lead to ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: In the 1960s, Kimura’s neutral theory revolutionized molecular biology by arguing most DNA changes are random, not adaptive. A new study finds ...

Newborn mice neurons can snap both DNA strands to migrate, then repair the breaks within a day. The process may be a normal ...

EVOFLUx uses DNA methylation fluctuations as molecular barcodes to trace tumor evolution, offering insights into growth, treatment resistance, and prognosis. The method requires only bulk methylation ...

A bird swoops toward a bright orange-and-black moth resting on a leaf in the Amazon. It pulls up at the last second. The pattern screams “toxic,” and the bird has learned the lesson before, probably ...

When we think about genetic inheritance, we usually leap to DNA, the four-letter code containing the instructions for building a living organism. Scientists know that DNA encodes everything from hair ...

Holly has a degree in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Leicester. Her scientific interests include genomics, personalized medicine, and bioethics.View full profile Holly has a degree in ...

Mutation dynamics in bacterial populations underpin the generation of genetic diversity that drives adaptation, speciation and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Spontaneous base substitutions ...

The secret to the naked mole-rats' extraordinarily long life may lie in subtle changes to just four amino acids, researchers report. According to a new study, evolutionary mutations in cGAS – an ...