Genetics & Molecular Biology

There was a study done over a decade ago by Claud Wedekind in which 44 men wore the same T-shirt for three days, refraining from deodorants and scented soaps so they wouldn’t interfere with their…

A major mystery about the origins of life may be resolved if a new hypothesis holds up, says  a study published in Nature.   Two Université de Montréal scientists have proposed a new idea…

Plants are obviously essential to our survival and that of most other animals on earth but it is easy to overlook how they have become discretely embedded into our everyday lives; plants provide us…

Research performed in the Center for Biomolecular Science&Engineering (CBSE) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, suggests that mobile repetitive elements--also known as transposons or "…

I am a firm believer in the possibility and promise of embryonic stem cells. In a politically, religiously and even scientifically charged climate, this is a risky thing to announce. But as a…

Neandertals were the closest relatives of currently living humans. They lived in Europe and parts of Asia until they became extinct about 30,000 years ago. For more than a hundred years,…

Man, I love it when scientists discover and publish things on a schedule that matches my state-mandated curriculum!  It really makes my job a lot easier.  (Also, the joke in the title line…

A common gene regulatory circuit controls the development of all dentitions, from the first teeth in the throats of jawless fishes that lived half a billion years ago to the incisors and molars of…

Emergence of black-colored wolves is the direct result of humans raising dogs as pets and beasts of burden, according to new research by a University of Calgary biologist in Science. The dark…

I feel like I found this article with near-perfect timing, considering that I am starting a unit on genetics in my Biology classes.  To recap: sadly, after scientists seemed to have successfully…