Mangroves grow in saltwater along tropical coastlines, but scientists have found them along a river in Mexico’s Yucatan, more than 100 miles from the sea. Climate change explains their shift.
Recovering historical genetic data has been severely impeded by the methods used to preserve specimens, from dried butterfly wings to platypus bills floating in alcohol.
Samantha Lee, The University of Western Australia; David Mackey, The University of Western Australia, and Serena Wee, The University of Western Australia
Understanding your genes is a great way to understand certain things about yourself — yet, who we are is determined by so much more than just DNA.
Corals in the Persian Gulf are tough - they can withstand temperatures that would kill corals elsewhere. And there’s good news: it’s easy to cross-breed their heat-tolerance genes into other corals.
Using a technique called admixture mapping, researchers can leverage the diversity of people with mixed ancestry to look for hard-to-find genetic risk factors for diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
Given the central role that ethnicity played and still plays in South African politics, it is good to have an unbiased estimate of Afrikaners’ genetic history.
The first full human genome was sequenced 20 years ago. Now, a project is underway to sequence 1 million genomes to better understand the complex relationship between genetics, diversity and disease.
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford