The new findings strengthen the "RNA world" hypothesis that describes how the first life on Earth could have used RNA instead ...

In the damp understory of forests in Taiwan, mainland Japan, and Okinawa, a plant called Balanophora can fool you at first glance. Its knobby flower stalks look more like a mushroom than a flowering ...

Swedish scientists retrieved RNA from an extinct Tasmanian tiger to help trace the genes that were active in the animal’s ...

Ocean microbes keep the planet healthy by cycling nutrients and capturing carbon, but a detailed and precise map of where ...

Researchers at Utah State University revealed new details about CRISPR immune system defenses, such as Cas12a3 systems, that ...

In mid-December, the 20-year-old Minneapolis resident was walking through the city’s Cedar-Riverside neighborhood when federal immigration officers stopped him. He offered to show identification. They ...

Researchers have revealed that so-called “junk DNA” contains powerful switches that help control brain cells linked to Alzheimer’s disease. By experimentally testing nearly 1,000 DNA switches in human ...

This is a summary of: Liu. H. et al. Viral RNA blocks circularization to evade host codon usage control. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09809-y (2025).

The world’s polar bear population is projected to decline by two-thirds by 2050. A new study from the University of East Anglia suggests that polar bears are undergoing rapid genetic changes, and ...

The rise of antibiotic resistance has renewed interest in bacteriophages as therapeutic alternatives. However, co-evolution of phage and bacteria will naturally give rise to phage-resistant pathogens, ...

Don Anderson will always remember Sept. 19, 2021, a Sunday, when his life changed forever. The now 60-year-old podcast host had a chaotic childhood; his parents divorced when he was 5 years old, and ...