DNA

Is DNA the Solution for Permanent Data Storage?

New study uses “synthetic fossils” to store data for the ages

Scientists Identify a “DNA Clock” That May Help Predict Mortality

New studies on changes to DNA that occur over a lifetime offer insight into an individual’s likelihood of early death

James Watson Will Be the First Nobel Laureate to Sell His Medallion

But his racist comments have created a surge of pushback

Moai on the slopes of the Rano Raraku volcano of Easter Island

Ancient Easter Islanders Likely Sailed Back And Forth to South America

The 4,600-mile roundtrip couldn't have been easy—even for people who had already migrated from Polynesia in wooden outrigger canoes

Diver Susan Bird works at the bottom of Hoyo Negro, a large dome-shaped underwater cave on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. She carefully brushes the human skull found at the site while her team members take detailed photographs.

DNA From 12,000-Year-Old Skeleton Helps Answer the Question: Who Were the First Americans?

In 2007, cave divers discovered remains that form the oldest, most complete and genetically intact human skeleton in the New World

A scientist examines a 1500-year-old tooth from a Justinian plague victim in the lab.

Bubonic Plague Family Tree Sheds Light on the Risk of New Outbreaks

The Black Death and the Justinian Plague arose separately from the same pathogen. Could a new strain emerge in the future?

Two Pints of Water Can Contain the DNA of Thousands of Fish

Two pints of water from a 1.2 million gallon tank were all that was needed to identify 13,000 fish

Frozen seafood in the lab, ready for DNA testing.

The DNA Detectives That Reveal What Seafood You're Really Eating

Genetic sequencing allows scientists to uncover increasingly prevalent seafood fraud

We All Experience Smells Differently From One Another

A difference of a single amino acid on one gene can cause that person to experience a smell differently than someone with another amino acid

One of the ancient human fossils found in Spain's La Sima de los Huesos.

Scientists Just Sequenced the DNA From A 400,000-Year-Old Early Human

The fossil, found in Spain, is mysteriously related to an ancient group of homonins called the Denisovans, previously found only in Siberia

Baby Mice Can Inherit Fear of Certain Smells From Their Parents

But researchers are far from pinning down the mechanism by which this may be possible, or what specific roles epigenetics plays in human disease

The Toxins That Affected Your Great-Grandparents Could Be In Your Genes

Biologist Michael Skinner has enraged the chemical community and shocked his peers with his breakthrough research

San Francisco-based entrepreneur Antony Evans plans to insert genes from bioluminescent bacteria into a species of flora as a first step to creating glowing trees.

Creating a New Kind of Night Light: Glow-in-the-Dark Trees

A group in California is starting to engineer plants that could one day replace streetlights

Eric D. Green is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

The Work Is Only Beginning on Understanding the Human Genome

Ten years ago, scientists released a map of our genetic blueprint. But, as Eric D. Green explains, there are many more mysteries left to unravel

Nitrogen-cooled tissue samples will represent half the life on earth.

What Genomic Research Can Tell Us About the Earth's Biodiversity

Smithsonian scientists are gathering wildlife tissue samples from around the world to build the largest museum-based repository

The genetic blueprints of an athlete are as important as training.

How Olympians Could Beat the Competition by Tweaking Their Genes

The next horizon in getting that extra athletic advantage may not be steroids, but gene therapy

A monarchist displays images of the Romanovs. Many Russians regard the Romanovs, canonized by the Orthodox Church in 2000, as martyrs.

Resurrecting the Czar

In Russia, the recent discovery of the remains of the two missing Romanov children has pitted science against the church

"Now it's off to the races," botanist Dave Erickson says of a project to barcode 250 species of plant life on Plummers Island.

Cracking the DNA Code

On a small island near Washington, D.C., Smithsonian researchers have found a genetic code that could revolutionize botany

Conventional wisdom held that only a huge stretch of DNA could function as a gene. The discovery of an overlooked genetic entity upends that view. Croce "was stunned."

High Hopes for a New Kind of Gene

Scientists believe that microRNA may lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer

A US Air Force Boeing 707 disturbs a colony of sooty terns during takeoff.

The Perils of Bird-Plane Collisions

When airlines want to investigate dangerous bird strikes against planes, they turn to the head of the Smithsonian’s Feather Identification Lab

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