Image: Courtesy of Elliott Marguiles  PIPS ON PARADE: Researchers used a MultiPipMaker to show the alignments, expressed as percent identity plots, between a human reference sequence and several other species. This is a 20 kb region surrounding exon 2 of the MET gene. Gap-free alignable segments are represented as horizontal lines along the human reference sequence; the line's height represents the identity of that alignment. Aristotle envisioned humanity as the pinnacle of a "Great Chai

The researchers who constructed the first reference genome for this critically endangered mollusk say it will assist restoration efforts.

Adipose fins, long considered vestigial, may have evolved multiple times as a key adaptation in some fish, study finds.

As the year draws to a close, we look back on researchers we bid farewell to, and the contributions they made to their respective fields.

The 5,000-year-old mummy Öetzi, found in a glacier in the European alps 17 years ago and believed to be an ancestor of modern Europeans, actually belonged to a different genetic family and may have no living descendants, researchers report today in Current Biology. The researchers sequenced linkurl:mitochondrial DNA;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/19318/(mtDNA) extracted from Öetzi's intestines, offering the oldest complete mtDNA sequence of modern humans. "We sort of ass

The completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) symbolizes the entry of biology into the "big science" arena.

The Scientist has asked a group of experts to comment periodically upon recent articles that they have found noteworthy. Their selections, presented herein every issue, are neither endorsements of content nor the result of systematic searching. Rather, the list represents personal choices of articles the columnists believe the scientific community as a whole may also find interesting. Reprints of any articles cited here may be ordered through The Genuine Article, 3501 Market St., Philadelphia,

Sidebar: RNA's Role at Beginning of Life - For Further Information Before there was life, there were chemicals. The idea that ribonucleic acid (RNA), because of its catalytic capability and multiple roles in protein synthesis, was the chemical that led directly to life is termed the RNA world hypothesis. Although the phrase "RNA world" is generally attributed to Walter Gilbert, Harvard University's Carl M. Loeb University Professor, in a short 1986 paper, the idea of RNA's importance at the beg