The first company to attempt to cheaply sequence the genomes of 100 people aged over 100 announced its intention to compete for the 2013 X prize.

Rather than rely on plant-derived products, biotech companies are engineering bacteria and yeast to produce ingredients for fragrances.

Guppies with experimentally shrunken brains produced more offspring than guppies bred for larger noggins, confirming a long suspected tradeoff of bigger brains.

Members of the Personal Genome Project have created software aimed at helping researchers tease apart genetic differences between individuals.

A biotech company is developing a vaccine that promotes weight loss in mice.

A nuclear war could have profound effects on crops yields around the world, according to a new study.

Cotton farmers using genetically modified seed in India have seen increased yields and profits over a 5 year period in India.

A federal appeals court upholds the Environmental Protection Agency’s right to regulate air pollution under the Clean Air Act.

The California condor is being threatened by lead bullets that it eats in the carcass of hunted animals.

Sampling for potentially pandemic strains of influenza virus at hog farms is lax compared with poultry farms, worrying some experts.

Medical devices coated with selenium nanoparticles reduce the growth of a deadly hospital-borne infection.

Some of the interesting stories researchers were discussing at this year’s American Society of Microbiology meeting in San Francisco.