Some viruses are like tiny powerhouses. They are only nanometers in size, but their insides are jam-packed with DNA that is so highly pressurised that it explodes out during infection. Herpes simplex 1…
The extinction of an animal is no longer the end of our opportunity to learn new things about its ecology and biology. The same technology that recently reconstructed the genome of the Neanderthal man…
Our genetic material is encoded in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA is famous. But you may also have also heard of RNA (ribonucleic acid). So, what is RNA, and what is it good for? Quite a lot really…
When scientists first decided to sequence the human genome, it seemed an impossibly large and complicated challenge. A decade since achieving this aim, scientists are faced with a similarly overwhelming…
The word epigenetics means things imposed “on top of genetics”. But what sort of things? Imagine a white mouse breeds with a black mouse – say you get three white babies and three black babies. That’s…
“DNA is your blood in you, we can use DNA as evidence if someone’s been stabbed. We can run tests in suspects.” (Girl, 12, central Queensland) “DNA has to do with blood types and fingerprints, it helps…
The skin and bones of long-dead tigers from the days of the British Raj have helped reveal how the latest threat to the endangered species is their own DNA. Taking DNA samples from game hunters’ trophies…
Public investment in the Human Genome Project was expected to deliver a global public good that would help generate scientific breakthroughs. But open access to our genetic blueprint is a precondition…
Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms abundant in nature that can’t be seen with the naked eye. In fact, there are approximately five multiplied by 10³¹ bacteria on the earth, constituting 90% of its…
The father of western medicine Hippocrates famously said: “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”, arguing disease was not a punishment from the gods, but the consequence of a poor diet. Today…
Most genetically modified (GM) crops are based on moving DNA from one organism to another to introduce a new protein. Now a growing number of genetically modified crops are based on intentionally changing…
A team of international researchers, including a number of Australian scientists, have identified 74 new areas of the genome that can increase a person’s risk of developing breast, prostate and ovarian…
A controversy at last: most of our DNA is junk, no it isn’t, yes it is. Actually, I think it is – up to 90% really is junk. Last year The Conversation published an article with an exciting headline: Human…
A long-standing natural history mystery has been solved, as my colleagues and I explain today in the journal Nature Communications. The Falkland Islands wolf, or warrah, may have been the world’s loneliest…
The more we look, the more we realise just how important intact ecosystems are for our own well-being - and it really doesn’t matter at which scale we are looking. When Alan Cooper, Director of the Australian…