Researchers have used AI to uncover the DNA signature of a key genetic “switch” involved in turning genes on. After analyzing about 500,000 DNA sequences, the model identified the initiator in roughly ...

Scientists have uncovered a surprising new picture of human origins that challenges the long-held idea of a single ancestral population in Africa. By analyzing genetic data from diverse modern African ...

For decades, biology textbooks have enshrined a simple rule: DNA is made by copying a template. After one enzyme unzips a DNA double helix into separate strands, another called a polymerase builds a ...

In 1869, Swiss scientist Friedrich Miescher isolated a mysterious substance from cell nuclei—an overlooked finding that would later reshape biology and our understanding of life itself. A ...

Human history is rife with contentions about the purity (and superiority) of the bloodlines of one group over another and claims over ancestral homelands. More than a decade of work on ancient human ...

Many 23andMe customers signed up to the genetic testing service in hopes of learning fun or interesting information about their past. But consumer advocates are now urging those users to request the ...

Ahead of the November presidential election, just 19% of Americans say democracy in the United States is a good example for other countries to follow, according to a Pew Research Center survey ...

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. When Steve Edsel was a boy, his adoptive parents kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings in their bedroom ...

Colorectal cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer in adults in the United States. Early detection could prevent more than 90% of colorectal cancer–related deaths, yet more than one third of the ...

The ability to extract trace bits of DNA from soil, water, and even air is revolutionizing science. But it's not foolproof. In the late 1980s, at a federal research facility in Pensacola, Florida, ...

A 2012 study did not find that women “store” men’s DNA after sexual intercourse, as suggested by an old headline, which recently resurfaced online, from a defunct website that repeatedly published ...