Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a devastating autoimmune disease, where the immune system attacks the white matter throughout the nervous system. While the cause for MS is currently unknown,…

Scientists have developed the first cell controlled by a synthetic genome which may allow them to probe the basic machinery of life and engineer bacteria specially designed to solve environmental or…

Researchers from the University of Barcelona and the University of California, San Francisco have captured the first high resolution images of DNA unfolding. The team studied a small DNA fragment…

Researchers have programmed an autonomous molecular "robot" made out of DNA to start, move, turn, and stop while following a DNA track. The development could ultimately lead to molecular systems that…

I am constantly amazed at how pathologizing variable phenomena is usually a human social agent. Consider the XY fertile Akodon females who go roaming around in South America. No other rodents seem to…

Scientists have identified two new genes that may be risk factors for the development of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to a new paper in the Journal of the American Medical…

Neural stem cells have long been defined as origin of nervous system development, spontaneously giving rise to the heterogeneous multitude of cells that make up the brain. Remarkably, neural stem…

Researchers writing in Nature say they can have discovered how living cells use a limited number of genes to generate enormously complex organs such as the brain. The team describes how a hidden code…

A variant of the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme ADH1B*3 is associated with reduced rates of alcohol dependence (AD), according to a study in Alcoholism: Clinical&Experimental Research. The enzyme…

Using ancient DNA preserved in bones from Siberian mammoths 25,000 to 43,000 years old, scientists have brought the primary component of the specimens' blood "back to life." The seven-year research…