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What Does It Mean to Be a Species? Genetics Is Changing the Answer
As DNA techniques let us see animals in finer and finer gradients, the old definition is falling apart
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Did Peckish Christians Make Chickens More Social?
Religious dietary laws in the Middle Ages could have helped make the fowl less aggressive
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Threatened Species? Science to the (Genetic) Rescue!
This still-controversial conservation technique will never be a species’ panacea. But it might provide a crucial stop-gap
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How Scientists Use Teeny Bits of Leftover DNA to Solve Wildlife Mysteries
Environmental DNA helps biologists track rare, elusive species. It could usher in a revolution for conservation biology
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Dingo Wins Competition for World’s Most Interesting Genome
The desert dingo beat out an explosive beetle, a pit viper and pink pigeon to win a grant to have its genome sequenced
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When the Nazis Tried to Bring Animals Back From Extinction
Their ideology of genetic purity extended to aspirations about reviving a pristine landscape with ancient animals and forests
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San People of South Africa Issue Code of Ethics for Researchers
This much-studied population is the first indigenous people of Africa to develop such guidelines
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Could the Tiny Zebrafish Teach Us to Cure Blindness?
By learning how zebrafish regenerate their retinas, researchers could figure out how to help humans do the same
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What Dung Beetles Can Teach Us About Sexual Difference
When it comes to sex appeal, it’s not all in your genes (it’s also in your proteins!)
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How Climate Helped Shape Your Nose
New research shows how the width of our nasal passages is literally shaped by the air we breathe
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Scientists Delve Into Neanderthal Dental Plaque to Understand How They Lived and Ate
The plaque that coated Neanderthal teeth is shedding new light on how our ancestors ate, self-medicated and interacted with humans
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Genes of the Last Woolly Mammoths Were Riddled with Bad Mutations, Study Finds
Before they died out, they lost their sense of smell and suffered from heartburn
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How Ancient Neanderthal DNA Still Influences Our Genes Today
Far from being silent remnants, Neanderthal genes play a profound role in how modern human genes are expressed
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Syria Just Made a Major Seed Bank Deposit
Seeds from 49,000 types of crops will be backed up in Svalbard once more
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E.O. Wilson Urges Tomorrow’s Scientists to Seek Earth’s Undiscovered Riches
In a Smithsonian talk, the eminent biologist argued for more protected areas and greater efforts to map the diversity of life
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New Report Cautiously Supports Some Gene Editing of Embryos
A new report suggests that editing embryos to cure some genetic diseases may be permissable
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Genome Mapping Could Lead to Cheaper and More Abundant Quinoa
New data on the “superfood” could help breed varieties that require less processing and can thrive in poor soil conditions
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Meet the Cincinnati Zoo’s Three Newborn Malayan Tigers
The adorable balls of fur could help the zoo diversify their tiger gene pool
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Are “Education Genes” on the Decline?
People in Iceland with genes associated with educational attainment are having fewer children, which may be affecting the population’s smarts
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