Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

DNA

Golden apple snails and humans have similar eyes with related structures. Understanding how the snails can regrow them could help scientists heal human eyes.

This Snail Can Regrow Its Eyes—and Understanding How May One Day Help Humans With Injuries

Researchers pinpointed a gene related to eye development in golden apple snails, which can regenerate amputated eyes within about a month

An illustration of E. coli. Scientists have been racing to shrink the genetic code of this bacterium.

Scientists Rewrite the Genetic Code of E. Coli, and It’s Drastically Different From Anything Found in Nature

The synthetic bacteria contain a shorter genetic code with 57 codons rather than 64, freeing up space for further edits that might lead to new drugs or virus-resistant microbes

New light microscopy techniques can distinguish objects down to less than ten nanometers. 

These Super-Resolution Microscopes Are Revealing the Inner Lives of Cells

Advanced light microscopy techniques are giving scientists a new understanding of human biology and what goes wrong in diseases

A Late Neolithic skull. For the recent study, scientists extracted DNA from skulls and teeth to look for traces of diseases.

With Ancient DNA, Scientists Have Mapped 37,000 Years of Disease Across Europe and Asia

Zoonoses—diseases that spread from animals to humans—began to gain prevalence some 6,500 years ago with the rise of animal husbandry, a new study suggests

Scientists sequenced ancient proteins in a tooth from a prehistoric rhino relative that had been preserved in Canada's High Arctic for up to 24 million years.

Scientists Recover Ancient Proteins From Animal Teeth Up to 24 Million Years Old, Opening Doors to Learning About the Past

Two new papers analyze fossils found in Canada and Kenya, respectively—vastly different environments for the preservation of genetic material

Greenlandic sled dogs, also known as Qimmit, play while resting.

Greenland Sled Dog DNA Reveals a Story of Human Migration and Ancestry of the Unique Breed

Researchers analyzed ancient and modern genetic samples of the Greenlandic Qimmit breed to shed light on the long relationship between the Inuit and their dogs in the Arctic

For the first time ever, the genome of a knotty sea spider was sequenced in high resolution.

These ‘Weird’ Sea Spiders Don’t Have Abdomens—and Instead Store Organs in Their Legs. With DNA, Scientists Are Learning Why

Researchers sequenced the knotty sea spider’s genome for the first time, revealing a missing gene that many other animals have

A facial reconstruction using a 3D scan of the skull

New Research

Scientists Have Sequenced an Ancient Egyptian Skeleton’s Entire Genome for the Very First Time. Here’s What They Found

Dating back more than 4,500 years, the skeleton belonged to a middle-aged man who may have worked as a potter and likely descended from ancestors in North Africa and Mesopotamia

A catch of Baltic Sea cod in 1987 shows fish that grew more than three feet long, with Finnish fisheries biologist Eero Kalevi Aro.

These Cod Have Been Shrinking Dramatically for Decades. Now, Scientists Say They’ve Solved the Mystery

Eastern Baltic cod grow to much smaller sizes than they did just 30 years ago, because overfishing altered their genes, according to new research

The new study analyzed 131 skeletons dated to between 7100 and 5950 B.C.E.

Ancient DNA Reveals That Men Moved in With Their Brides’ Families in This Neolithic Settlement

A new study suggests that a 9,000-year-old society in Catalhoyuk, a proto-city in southern Anatolia, may have established a “female-centered” social structure

Scientists and artists collaborated to reconstruct the face of a 10,500-year-old woman whose remains were found in the Meuse Valley of Belgium.

See the Face of a 10,500-Year-Old Woman, Reconstructed by Archaeologists and Artists

Using well-preserved ancient DNA, researchers have created a life-like facial reconstruction of a woman who lived in Belgium’s Meuse Valley during the Mesolithic period

These skeletons of two hunter-gatherer individuals excavated at the Checua archaeological site north of Bogotá, Colombia, helped uncover the genetic details of a mysterious population.

Ancient DNA Reveals Mysterious New Group of Humans in Colombia With No Genetic Ties to People Today

The previously undocumented lineage of hunter-gatherers seems to have disappeared around 2,000 years ago

The Dragon Man skull, described as Homo longi in 2021, belongs to a Denisovan, according to new research.

Iconic ‘Dragon Man’ Skull Offers First Glimpse of What a Denisovan’s Face Looked Like, New Genetic Studies Suggest

The mysterious ancient humans were only known from fossil fragments. Now, two papers argue a skull uncovered in China belongs to this group, after examining preserved DNA and proteins

The well-preserved cubs—which turned out to be sisters—were discovered in 2011 and 2015 in northern Siberia.

14,000-Year-Old ‘Puppies’ Found in Siberia Were Wolf Littermates Who Dined on Woolly Rhino

Researchers studied chemicals found in the animals’ bones, teeth and tissues, as well as genetic material from their stomach contents

Formosan termites (Coptotermes formosanus) are among two invasive termite species that are interbreeding in South Florida.

Two Invasive Termites Are Interbreeding in Florida, Raising Concerns That the Hybrid Pests Could Spread Around the World

Previous research found that Asian and Formosan termites could produce offspring together, and now, scientists have found these creatures established in the wild

This skull of a 1.8-million-year-old Paranthropus robustus individual was unearthed in South Africa, but it was not one of the fossils included in the study.

Scientists Investigate 2.2-Million-Year-Old Tooth Enamel to Unravel the Mysteries of Ancient Human Relatives

By studying proteins preserved in teeth, researchers determined the sex of four Paranthropus robustus individuals that lived in southern Africa

Researchers revealed that differences in sloth habitats drove the wide variation in size seen in extinct species.

Giant Sloths the Size of Elephants Once Walked Along the Ground. Here’s How the Massive Animals Evolved and Declined

Researchers analyzed fossils and DNA to get a big-picture view of sloth evolution and determine what drove their immense size variation

None

There's More to That

The Stunning Search for the Remains of Fallen WWII Airmen

After three crewmen were swallowed up by the Pacific at the end of World War II, a modern-day rescue effort went to find them

A group of female South Korean free divers on Jeju Island, known as the Haenyeo, exit the water after catching marine snails in November 2015.

South Korea’s Female Free Divers May Have Evolved to Thrive Underwater, Study Finds

The Haenyeo, a group of skilled divers on Jeju Island, plunge beneath the ocean’s surface without any breathing equipment, thanks to a combination of their training and genetics

Researchers have used genomic sequencing to trace what they’re calling the “longest migration out of Africa.”

New Research

Scientists Use DNA to Trace Early Humans’ Footsteps From Asia to South America

Over thousands of years, humans from Eurasia trekked more than 12,400 miles to eventually reach the southernmost tip of South America, a new genetic investigation suggests

Page 4 of 28