Genetics

  1. Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of the fungus Aspergillus nidulans shows fungal growths that look like broccoli clusters
    Microbes

    How fungi make potent toxins that can contaminate food

    Genetically engineering Aspergillus fungi to delete certain proteins stops the production of mycotoxins that can be dangerous to human health.

    By Deborah Balthazar
  2. An illustration of a Siberian Neandertal father carrying his young daughter on his shoulders.
    Genetics

    Ancient DNA unveils Siberian Neandertals’ small-scale social lives

    Females often moved into their mate’s communities, which totaled about 20 individuals, researchers say.

    By Bruce Bower
  3. archaeologists excavating graves of plague victims at a London cemetery
    Genetics

    Black Death immunity came at a cost to modern-day health

    A genetic variant that boosts Crohn’s disease risk may have helped people survive the 14th century bubonic plague known as the Black Death.

    By Wynne Parry
  4. composite of two images of a children with blonde, unruly hair
    Genetics

    Can’t comb your kid’s hair? This gene may be to blame

    Scientists linked variants of one hair shaft gene to most of the uncombable hair syndrome cases they tested.

    By Meghan Rosen
  5. a mother and baby donkey with dark brown fur stand in a field with trees in the background
    Animals

    DNA reveals donkeys were domesticated 7,000 years ago in East Africa

    When and where donkeys were domesticated has been a long-standing mystery. DNA now reveals they were tamed much earlier than horses.

    By Freda Kreier
  6. a child holding a glass of milk grimaces
    Anthropology

    Famine and disease may have driven ancient Europeans’ lactose tolerance

    Dealing with food shortages and infections over thousands of years, not widespread milk consumption, may be how an ability to digest dairy evolved.

    By Bruce Bower
  7. a 14,000-year-old partial skull of an ancient hominid shown from multiple angles
    Humans

    Ancient DNA links an East Asian Homo sapiens woman to early Americans

    Genetic clues point to a Late Stone Age trek from southwestern China to North America.

    By Bruce Bower
  8. a scientist in front of cages full of mosquitos at a lab in Terni, Italy
    Genetics

    Who decides whether to use gene drives against malaria-carrying mosquitoes?

    As CRISPR-based gene drives to eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes pass new tests, the African public will weigh in on whether to unleash them.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  9. Jack, the pit-husky mixed breed, lounges on the porch and appears unimpressed
    Animals

    Dog breed is a surprisingly poor predictor of individual behavior

    Despite the popular conviction that dog breeds are associated with specific traits, breed accounts for only 9 percent of behavioral differences.

    By Anna Gibbs
  10. rows of puzzle pieces with the letters A, T, C and G and one section highlighted
    Genetics

    We finally have a fully complete human genome

    Finding the missing 8 percent of the human genome gives researchers a more powerful tool to better understand human health, disease and evolution.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  11. image of Maria Grazia Roncarolo using a pipette in a hood
    Genetics

    How gene therapy overcame high-profile failures

    A dark period for gene therapy didn’t derail scientists determined to help patients.

    By Megan Scudellari
  12. illustration of a brown Christmas Island rat with tufts of grass
    Genetics

    An extinct rat shows CRISPR’s limits for resurrecting species

    Scientists recovered most of the Christmas Island rat’s genome. But the missing genes signal a problem for using gene editing to de-extinct species.

    By Anna Gibbs