When you share your genetic data – even with the NHS – you don't know where it will end up, or how it will be used.
Revolutionary technologies like CRISPR are founded on discoveries uncovered through basic research that attracts very little attention.
United Soybean Board/flickr
On average, important new lab techniques like CRISPR take 23 years to develop – but there is a public expectation that scientific breakthroughs occur quickly and efficiently.
Police have powerful new genetic tools. How are we going to regulate their use? A Genetic Data Protection Act is one solution to ensure confidence in the way DNA is accessed and used.
One way to tackle this violent crime is through DNA profiling.
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We previously thought mitochondrial DNA could only be passed on by mothers.
‘Amphy’ has features of both simple and more complex forms of life – and so can help us understand important steps in evolution.
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The US went crazy for Seabiscuit when he won his famous 1938 match race against War Admiral. Now researchers are investigating the thoroughbred's DNA to see what made him such an unlikely success.
The question of whether a person can "become" Aboriginal after discovering ancestry through a DNA test is more complicated in Australia.
Some Harlequin ladybugs, Harmonia axyridis, have black elytra with two large red spots. Others have two additional red spots backwards, or are decorated with a dozen small red spots. Conversely, there are ladybugs with red elytra, decorated with 20 black spots. All these ladybugs belong to the same species.
B. Prud’homme, J. Yamaguchi
Once genetic lesions for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and haemophilia were identified, the idea of replacing or correcting defective genes grew into what we now call "gene therapy".
Our risk of cancer is determined by a complex mix of genes, environment and lifestyle factors.
Claudia van Zyl
Ian Majewski, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Edward Chew, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
As we age, our DNA accumulates damage, which can increase our risk of developing
cancer. But our cells work hard to guard against cancer – new research explains how.
A three-banded clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) navigates the anemones of the Andaman Coral Reef, India.
Ritiks/Wikipedia
Our children all know the little clownfish Nemo, star of the Pixar film. But why does he have three stripes, rather than one or two? Developmental and evolutionary biology are revealing the answer.