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genetics

Q&A

When a Gene Illness Discovery Means Breaking Bad News

By Rachel Crowell
December 14, 2021
Read Later

When scientists discover genes linked to dangerous illnesses in their samples, how should they convey that news to the study participants? The geneticist Cristen Willer had to tackle that challenge.

Portrait photo of Catherine Dulac of Harvard University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Q&A

Catherine Dulac Finds Brain Circuitry Behind Sex-Specific Behaviors

By Claudia Dreifus
December 14, 2020
Read Later

Catherine Dulac is overturning preconceptions about “male” and “female” instincts and opening new avenues to treating postpartum depression.

Illustration of a blue tiger.
Abstractions blog

How Neutral Theory Altered Ideas About Biodiversity

By Christie Wilcox
December 8, 2020
Read Later

The simple insight that most changes are random had a profound effect on genetics, evolution and ecology.

Photo of one of the Russian sturgeon-paddlefish hybrids called sturddlefish.
Abstractions blog

Extra DNA May Make Unlikely Hybrid Fish Possible

By Christie Wilcox
August 5, 2020
Read Later

The unintentional creation of “sturddlefish” hybrids may illuminate the genomic mechanisms that govern whether species can interbreed.

Insights puzzle

How to Design (or at Least Model) Mixed Dog Breeds

By Pradeep Mutalik
July 31, 2020
Read Later

Readers simulated the genetics of dog breeding to solve a puzzle about mixed breed percentages and sexual reproduction.

Insights puzzle

How to Breed a Pomsky and Other Questions About Dogs and Sex

By Pradeep Mutalik
June 18, 2020
Read Later

Solve a puzzle about mixed dog breeds, sexual reproduction and the COVID-19 pandemic.

genomics

Where Do New Genes Come From?

By Viviane Callier
April 9, 2020
Read Later

In their search for sources of genetic novelty, researchers find that some “orphan genes” with no obvious ancestors evolve out of junk DNA, contrary to old assumptions.

A mother armadillo, lying on her side, nurses four baby armadillos.
developmental biology

Nature Versus Nurture? Add ‘Noise’ to the Debate.

By Jordana Cepelewicz
March 23, 2020
Read Later

We give our genes and our environment all the credit for making us who we are. But random noise during development might be just as important.

Cichlid fish of diverse colors and shapes swim together.
evolution

New Hybrid Species Remix Old Genes Creatively

By Jonathan Lambert
September 10, 2019
Read Later

Clues from fish diversity suggest that interbreeding between species could be a major mechanism of fast speciation.


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