Recently, scientists have begun to make precise genetic modifications to genes in order to move a beneficial effect of one plant to another.
The most random thing that can happen is letting natural radioactivity within DNA alter chemical compounds, providing a new pathway for genetic mutation.
Radioactivity occurs naturally in our bodies as well as in every living organism across the planet and a new paper looked at natural radioactivity within human DNA on the atomic-scale. It was not known to affect our DNA in such a direct way but in a new paper the team was able to show radioactivity could alter molecular structures which encode genetic information, creating new molecules that do not belong to the four-letter alphabet of DNA.
Read the full, original story: A New Alphabet: Carbon-14 Natural Radioactivity May Mutate DNA Outside The Four Letters
