Researchers have revealed that so-called “junk DNA” contains powerful switches that help control brain cells linked to Alzheimer’s disease. By experimentally testing nearly 1,000 DNA switches in human ...

Fargo, ND, is probably better known for its blizzards, floods, and eponymous TV series than its biotechnological prowess. Yet for the past 25 years, Aldevron, a manufacturer of DNA, RNA, and proteins, ...

For many genetic diseases, disabling or editing a gene using CRISPR is insufficient to overcome the effects of the underlying genetic mutation. A corrective gene needs to be added to the genome to fix ...

Did you know that many of us have up to 4% neanderthal DNA? Did you know that many of us have up to 4% neanderthal DNA? And that 100% of your DNA may come from outer space? No joke. The biochemistry ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of ...

Comparison of a single-stranded RNA and a double-stranded DNA with their corresponding nucleobases. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, CC SA 3.0) The most common type of base pairing is the Watson-Crick base ...

Research into how a father’s choices — such as diet, exercise, stress, nicotine use — may transfer traits to his children has ...

This image illustrates the chemical structure of a purine molecule, highlighting the numbering of the carbon and nitrogen atoms. The purine structure consists of a pyrimidine ring (positions 1 to 6) ...