We are what we are because of ancient and mysterious genetics.

The first great branching of the evolutionary tree, between bacteria and archaea, may have happened before either of them ...

(Alones Creative/iStock/Getty Images) One of the most iconic visual representations in biological science is the double helix ...

When a wound does not heal properly, it leaves a scar. Similarly, mutations—which are permanent changes to genetic code—are ...

The genetic code is the recipe for life, and provides the instructions for how to make proteins, generally using just 20 amino acids. But certain groups of microbes have an expanded genetic code, in ...

OUR scalp cells sprout hair while the cells lining our nose and lungs make mucus. Our fat cells bloat, our retinal cells turn light into electricity, and our heart cells contract to order. Yet every ...

A newly discovered code within DNA -- coined 'spatial grammar' -- holds a key to understanding how gene activity is encoded in the human genome. This breakthrough finding revealed a long-postulated ...

Mutations are changes in the molecular 'letters' that make up the DNA code, the blueprint for all living cells. Some of these changes can have little effect, but others can lead to diseases, including ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A scientist examines a sample besides an artistic rendering of DNA structures. - FOTOGRIN/Shutterstock DNA sequencing is one of ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Recent breakthroughs in genetics research may have uncovered new genes underlying common psychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia and ...

A group of scientists at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center has revealed a new genetic code that acts like a cancer ringleader, recruiting and deploying a gang of tumor cells to incite a ...

Synthetic biologists from Yale were able to re-write the genetic code of an organism - a novel genomically recoded organism (GRO) with one stop codon - using a cellular platform that they developed ...