Opinion: How do we protect our native bee species?
Bees are among the most charismatic and familiar animals of the insect world, and thoughts of a summer's day picnic would not be complete without the recollection of the hum of bees or the sight of a...
View ArticleResearchers uncover a role for HSP90 in gene-environment interactions in humans
Proteins do most of the work inside the human body, supporting the structure, function, regulation, and repair of organs, tissues and cells. Proteins are synthesized as extended chains of amino acids...
View ArticleVideo: The chemistry of redheads
St. Patrick's Day evokes thoughts of all things often associated with the Irish—including red hair. Chemically speaking, what sets redheads apart from the crowd is pigmentation—specifically melanins.
View ArticleAgriculture, dietary changes, and adaptations in fat metabolism from ancient...
Good vs bad cholesterol. Margarine vs butter. Red meat vs. vegan. The causal links between fats and health have been a hotly debated topic for scientists, physicians and the public.
View ArticleScientists predict reading ability from DNA alone
Researchers from King's College London have used a genetic scoring technique to predict reading performance throughout school years from DNA alone.
View ArticleLimited gene flow between two Bengal tiger populations in the western...
The flow of genes between Bengal tigers in two reserves of the Terai Arc Landscape in western Himalayan foothills is too low, according to a study published April 26, 2017 in the open-access journal...
View ArticleFruit fly study measures genetic variation in learning
You live, you learn—even if you're a larva and especially if there's a little shock involved.
View ArticleInsects resist genetic methods to control disease spread, study finds
Researchers are exploring the use of the revolutionary gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to fight human disease and agricultural blight. But a study from Indiana University has found several challenges to...
View ArticleThe road not taken: Do stress-specific mutations lead down different...
Starvation for essential elements determines the pattern of genetic variation.
View ArticleEvolutionary biologists identify non-genetic source of species variability
An unspoken frustration for evolutionary biologists over the past 100 years, says Craig Albertson at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is that genetics can only account for a small percentage of...
View ArticleGenetics takes fight to gardeners' green foe
A scientist from The University of Manchester has hit upon an innovative way to control greenflies which infest our gardens and farms.
View ArticleSan Salvador pupfish acquired genetic variation from island fish to eat new...
Pupfish living in salty lakes on San Salvador Island were able to diversify into multiple species with different eating habits, in part, by interbreeding with pupfish from other islands in the...
View ArticleCaptive lemurs get a genetic health checkup
Careful matchmaking can restore genetic diversity for endangered lemurs in captivity, researchers report.
View ArticleHope for improving protection of the reticulated python
Trading in skins of the reticulated python is such a lucrative business that illegal exports are rising sharply and existing trade restrictions are being circumvented on a large scale. This is...
View ArticleLarge-scale study of genetic data shows humans still evolving
In a study analyzing the genomes of 210,000 people in the United States and Britain, researchers at Columbia University find that the genetic variants linked to Alzheimer's disease and heavy smoking...
View ArticleScientists create alternate evolutionary histories in a test tube
Scientists at the University of Chicago studied a massive set of genetic variants of an ancient protein, discovering a myriad of other ways that evolution could have turned out and revealing a central...
View ArticlePlant geneticists develop a new application of CRISPR to break yield barriers...
Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have harnessed the still untapped power of genome editing to improve agricultural crops. Using tomato as an example, they have mobilized CRISPR/Cas9...
View ArticlePearl millet genome sequence provides a resource to improve agronomic traits...
An international consortium around the biologist Wolfram Weckwerth has published the genome sequence of Pearl millet, a drought resistant crop plant most important in aride regions in Africa and Asia....
View ArticleDogs' social skills linked to oxytocin sensitivity
The tendency of dogs to seek contact with their owners is associated with genetic variations in sensitivity for the hormone oxytocin, according to a new study from Linköping University, Sweden. The...
View ArticleGenetic rescue boosts recovery of Australia's endangered mountain pygmy possums
For the first time, a breeding technique known as genetic rescue has been shown to increase population numbers and survival rates of the endangered mountain pygmy possum, now at their highest numbers...
View Article