Science
Ancient DNA analysis reveals Botai hunter-gatherers first domesticated horses
[W]ho first domesticated horses is a hotly debated question. One leading hypothesis suggests Bronze Age pastoralists called the Yamnaya were ...
Could pre-pregnancy genetic screening help with difficult child-bearing decisions?
Pregnancy comes with many unknowns. Perhaps one of the most harrowing is whether a child will be born healthy. Now, ...
Is this ancient hashtag just a decoration or the first human symbol?
About 100,000 years ago, ancient humans started etching lines and hashtag patterns onto red rocks in a South African cave ...
Ancient DNA suggests South Asians descended from 3 Eurasian groups—hunter-gatherers, farmers, herders
[A] study of the first ancient DNA recovered from South Asia shows that populations there mingled repeatedly thousands of years ...
Are we moving closer to detecting cancer through blood tests?
The elusive dream is that a simple blood test could detect a small tumor growing in your body, giving doctors ...
Can ‘gene drives’ for crop pests work in the real world?
The spotted wing fruit fly is one of the world’s major crop destroyers. Scientifically known as Drosophila suzukii, this peppercorn-size insect ...
Review: David Reich’s ‘Who We Are and How We Got Here’ fails to examine ethical issues around DNA research
In Who We Are and How We Got Here, David Reich gracefully describes how recent advances in genomics have enabled ...
Uncovering ‘hidden stories of slavery’ in modern Latin American DNA
If you walked the cobblestone streets and bustling markets of 16th and 17th century Mexico City, you would see people ...
Proposed Chinese cancer mega-center named after Nobel laureate James Watson may refocus on precision medicine
James Watson, the Nobel laureate who turns 90 this week, was front and center on a red-carpeted stage before an ...
Ancient DNA from mysterious culture highlights North Africa’s role as ‘important crossroads’
About 15,000 years ago, in the oldest known cemetery in the world, people buried their dead in sitting positions with ...
Evolution’s way: Odd survival strategies in the face of scarce resources and predators
Nature has a lot to teach us. As part of our special package, we explored how animals, plants, and bacteria use ...
Italian election results in rise of anti-science political parties opposed to GMOs, vaccines, animal testing
The outcome of ... parliamentary elections in Italy was a stunning victory for populist and nationalist parties, and a clear ...
Nitrogen-fixing GMO crops could reduce synthetic fertilizer use, benefit environment
Nitrogen is the main nutrient that limits crop yield. Biologically reactive nitrogen is therefore routinely supplied to crops as synthetic ...
Precision upgrade? Modified enzyme could boost CRISPR gene editing
You wouldn't know it from the excitement generated by the revolutionary genome editing method known as CRISPR, but as practiced ...
Pinpointing time of death for crime victims may be possible through our genes
Thanks to an extensive new survey of gene activity in human tissue after death, computational biologists have taken the first ...
Charred ‘digging sticks’ found in Italy could be oldest Neanderthal tools made with fire
In the spring of 2012, while digging a hole for a thermal pool, construction workers in Grosseto, Italy, hit scientific ...
Stem cell breakthrough could improve cow health, milk production and more
After decades of effort, scientists have finally managed to derive embryonic stem (ES) cells from cows and keep them in ...
Managed honey bees can harm wild pollinator species
There is widespread concern about the global decline in pollinators and the associated loss of pollination services. This concern is ...
Frankenstein story reminds us why fear is an ‘easy sell’ for science skeptics
On 1 August 1790, a precocious student named Victor Frankenstein submitted a radical proposal to an ethical panel at the ...
CRISPR patent dispute: Broad Institute has key rights revoked in Europe
A decision from the European Patent Office (EPO) has put the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on shaky ground with its ...
Neuroevolution: Artificial intelligence learns by adapting and evolving
[An] old idea—improving neural networks not through teaching, but through evolution—is revealing its potential. Five new papers from Uber in San Francisco, California, ...
Could our microbiome offer diet advice? Edible sensors look inside our digestive system
Wouldn’t it be nice if our microbiomes could serve up diet advice—some science-based assurance that our food and medicines act ...
How Alzheimer’s kills: Protein tau spreads through the brain like an infectious disease
For the first time, scientists have produced evidence in living humans that the protein tau, which mars the brain in ...
White blood cell warning system ‘sprays’ DNA to alert other cells
When some of our white blood cells detect viruses or other microbes that have invaded our bodies, they may alert ...
Native American ancestors arrived from Asia in a wave, not a trickle, suggests ancient DNA
A rare smidgen of ancient DNA has sharpened the picture of one of humanity’s greatest migrations. Some 15,000 to 25,000 ...
Diabetes and anorexia might be treatable by inhibiting ‘hunger hormone’, mice study suggests
Scientists once had high hopes that inhibiting a hormone named ghrelin would be the key to preventing obesity. Ghrelin didn’t ...
Challenging the narrative that someone is manipulating the UN debate over gene drives
It had scandal written all over it. Disclosed emails revealed that a covert coalition lobbying for relaxed regulations around a ...
In era of personalized medicine, what’s the value of cholesterol tests?
Most physicians order what [cardiologist Allan Sniderman] considers the wrong test to gauge heart disease risk: a standard cholesterol readout, ...
