Wired
New age of genetic testing advances, despite FDA’s dust-up with 23andMe
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month ordered startup 23andMe to stop marketing its $99 genetic analysis kit, ...
Did brain mirror neurons help shape our civilization?
A new study debunks the hype surrounding mirror neurons and surveys current literature to take a calm and objective look ...
Craig Venter’s vision of the age of human-controlled evolution
J Craig Venter has been a molecular-biology pioneer for two decades. After developing expressed sequence tags in the 90s, he ...
Spain to fast track citizenship for Jews of Spanish descent. Who qualifies?
Last year, Spain announced that it would provide a fast track to citizenship for Sephardic Jews—Jews of Spanish descent (the Jews of Spain were ...
Bacteria with spider genes spin out silk
In addition to snaring dinner and protecting spider babies, spider silk makes a pretty good shield for bioreactive enzymes. Even ...
The fall and rise of gene therapy
Rarely does a whole life’s work crumble in a single week, but James Wilson’s did. Wilson and his colleagues were ...
Cloud-based genomics: Will the Internet create GM super-oranges?
Farmers are hacking their operations with robots, sensors, drones, and good-old circuit boards, but that’s merely a first step. Thanks ...
Literal gene-ius: The search for a genetic basis of intelligence
Barely out of his teens, Chinese prodigy Zhao Bowen is leading a multimillion-dollar research effort to solve a genetic mystery: ...
What makes some people so smart?
After being identified early as a science prodigy, Zhao Bowen raced through China’s special programs for gifted students and won ...
700,000-year-old horse genome shatters record for sequencing of ancient DNA
The following is an excerpt. By piecing together the genetic information locked inside a frozen, fossilized bone, scientists have deciphered ...
Two genetic code tweaks 500 million years ago caused evolutionary jump
The following is an excerpt. Modern day reproductive systems are the result of changes in two letters of genetic code ...
Genetically modified silkworms spin fluorescent silk
The following is an edited excerpt. Silkworms in a Japanese lab are busy spinning silks that glow in the dark ...
Synthetic blood may introduce a host of complications
The pending arrival of synthetic blood is likely to come with some serious socioeconomic and ethical issues ...
Building a future with synthetic biology
The following is an edited excerpt. The potential magnitude of human intervention is greater today than ever before. Before the ...
Gene patents are sabotaging the future of medicine
The following is an excerpt. The business of DNA is undergoing a revolution. We can already get our genes scanned for ...
Sequencing finds antibiotic resistance in bacteria moving from livestock to humans
Scientists use genetics to uncover the "smoking gun" in the crossing-over of antibiotic resistance from livestock to human ...
Get ready for a genetics-based marketplace
A new platform will help consumers control what offers they get from retailers based on their genetic makeup ...
DNA shows surprising flame-retardant properties
The following is an edited excerpt. Normally, cotton fabrics are highly flammable. But when scientists tried to set fire to cotton coated ...
DNA number-crunchers use homegrown software
The following is an edited excerpt. Today, multiple startups — including DNAnexus and Spiral Genetics — are taking the genomics ...
Crime-fighting DNA databases vs Genetic privacy
Should police take DNA samples from people who are arrested but not yet charged with a crime? Some argue DNA ...
Editing tool created for human genome
A technique which allows genetic editing has been successfully tested on human cells meaning that genetic medicine -- previously an expensive and ...
The case for selective paternalism in genetic testing
The case against paternalism in genetics is a cause célèbre among many scientists and science writers. The argument generally paints ...
Embrace your genome
Virginia Hughes is “sick of reading about the dangers of the genome.” So she complains over at Slate, eloquently, and I’m ...
Humans are ‘evolvable’ now more than ever
In the most massive study of genetic variation yet, researchers estimated the age of more than one million variants, or ...
Genetics at center of several “battlegrounds” in next 4 years
In the wake of Obama's victory, Wired takes a look at the battles to come in the next four years ...
Craig Venter’s vision to print life, generate vaccines
Craig Venter imagines a future where you can download software, print a vaccine and inject it at home, contagion averted ...
Stem cells show early promise for rare brain disorder
Four young boys with a rare, fatal brain condition have made it through a dangerous ordeal. Scientists have safely transplanted ...
Khoe-San people represent earliest branch off human family tree
The Khoe-San people of southern Africa have been recognised as one of the earliest-formed distinct human genetic groups for several ...
