Genetics
How Genes Refract Chance
The geneticist Siddhartha Mukherjee discusses the influence of modern genetics on our ideas of chance and fate.
CRISPR Gene-Editing Pioneers Win Kavli Prize for Nanoscience
The inventors of a “Swiss army knife” for genome editing received prestigious honors, as did pioneering scientists in astrophysics and neuroscience.
Chronological Clues to Life’s Early History Lurk in Gene Transfers
To date the branches on the evolutionary tree of life, researchers are looking at horizontal gene transfers among ancient microorganisms, which once seemed only to muddle the record.
It’s Time to Make Human-Chimp Hybrids
The humanzee is both scientifically possible and morally defensible.
Tissue Engineers Hack Life’s Code for 3-D Folded Shapes
Mechanical tension between tethered cells cues developing tissues to fold. Researchers can now program synthetic tissue to make coils, cubes and rippling plates.
You’re Descended from Royalty and So Is Everybody Else
Anybody you can name from ancient history is in your family tree.