dna
DNA as a crime fighting tool: Why we may be in danger of putting too much faith in it
What happens to a society when there’s suddenly a new way to identify people—to track them as they move around ...
DNA of the dead: Genetic testing companies offering to use envelopes licked by the deceased
In the past year, genealogists have been abuzz about the possibility of getting DNA out of old stamps and envelopes ...
Has genetic analysis identified Jack the Ripper?
Forensic scientists say they have finally fingered the identity of Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer who terrorized the ...
Stealing DNA sequences? It can be done with an audio recorder
Engineers at the University of California say they have demonstrated how easy it would be to snoop on biotech companies ...
Crime scene conundrum: Your DNA can wind up on something you never even touched
A 10-second handshake could transfer a person’s DNA to an object that the person never touched. In handshaking experiments, people ...
Why human evolution is far from over—and may be speeding up
Global studies of human DNA show that natural selection continues to change who we are ...
Crime scene investigators couldn’t tell identical twins’ DNA apart. Until now
One night in November 1999, a 26-year-old woman was raped in a parking lot in Grand Rapids, Mich. Police officers ...
Why you shouldn’t expect the DNA you send to companies like 23andMe to remain private forever
The data you shared with a genetic testing startup like 23andMe is private — for now. But maintaining that privacy, which rests ...
Searching for ‘hidden talents’: Chinese parents turn to genetic tests for their toddlers
Fears of seeing their children fall behind their peers have left Chinese parents searching for anything to give them a ...
Newborns and genome sequencing: Do we sacrifice privacy in the name of health?
If history provides a lesson, routine newborn genomic sequencing won’t come without a fight ...
A tricky study about links between GMO rejectionism and education, and evidence the biotech debate may not be as ideologically polarized as most people think
Before we do an end-zone dance over this study, let's look at its limitations ...
Synthetic doubling of life’s DNA alphabet suggests there’s nothing ‘magical’ about life on Earth
The DNA of life on Earth naturally stores its information in just four key chemicals — guanine, cytosine, adenine and ...
Fertility doctor suspected of fathering 200 children will have DNA tested, court rules
A fertility doctor suspected to have fathered scores of people by secretly swapping donors' sperm for his own will have ...
Ancient African DNA reveals insights before slavery, colonialism
[B]ones between 5,000 and 15,000 years old — surrounding the start of the Holocene, our current geologic epoch — can ...
‘Google of sorts’: DNA database harnesses power of genome sequences
In 2015, scientists discovered a pig in China that would set off a frantic, worldwide search. The pig carried bacteria ...
Many people are confused and concerned about human gene editing. They might just need a ‘better understanding’ of how it works
Genome editing has struck a public nerve in a more profound way than most new medical technologies ...
Tracking Neanderthal DNA in modern humans: There’s been little change in 45,000 years
Neanderthals, modern humans’ closest evolutionary relatives, have been extinct for thousands of years. But due to interbreeding between the two ...
Ancient DNA answering previously ‘unresolvable’ questions about extinct species
The idea that [the answer to ancient questions] might be preserved in [the DNA of] old specimens has been around ...
Alzhiemer’s could be triggered by ‘genomic mosaicism’
Certain inherited genetic mutations lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but they are relatively rare. A recent study from my laboratory, however, shows ...
DNA test spurs arrest of nurse accused of impregnating vegetative patient
A 36-year-old nurse has been arrested on suspicion of impregnating a woman in a vegetative state who unexpectedly gave birth ...
DNA as ‘fortune teller’? There are limits as to what genes can predict
Is our future written in our genes? … King’s College London geneticist Robert Plomin, in his new book, Blueprint, presents DNA ...
I’m a geneticist. A DNA test uncovered a half-sister and sparked painful questions
My own discovery is so overwhelming that I can’t talk about it much, even though my new half-sister has possibly ...
Genetics pioneer James Watson stripped of final honorary titles over race views
It's the latest chapter of the dark side of Dr. Watson ...
Are we ready for the ethical issues surrounding newborn genetic screening?
In the not-too-distant future, it will be possible to get a complete readout of a person’s genetics with ease, even ...
The rise and fall of genetic determinism
We’ve all seen the stark headlines: “Being Rich and Successful Is in Your DNA” (Guardian, July 12); “A New Genetic ...
Why 2018 was such a big year for DNA data
These were some of the surprising new uses of DNA information that emerged over the last 12 months as genetic ...
Bad decision: Did your genes make you do it?
Studies have picked out groups of genes associated with intelligence, academic achievement, criminal activity and other life outcomes. It now ...