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In Newly Created Life-Form, a Major Mystery
Scientists have created a synthetic organism that possesses only the genes it needs to survive. But they have no idea what roughly a third of those genes do.
How Strange Twists in DNA Orchestrate Life
Coils and twirls in DNA’s double-helix change how the molecule behaves, opening a new role for topology in the study of life.
The Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death
Only a few genetic changes were enough to change an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague.
How the Body’s Trillions of Clocks Keep Time
Cellular clocks are almost everywhere. Clues to how they work are coming from the places they’re not.
At Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life
A new technique for finding and characterizing microbes has boosted the number of known bacteria by almost 50 percent, revealing a hidden world all around us.