genetics

The first high-quality genome for a marine isopod may shed light on how this group of crustaceans adapted to the deep, dark depths of the ocean.

A new method has allowed researchers to conduct the first gene knock-out and knock-in edits on cockroaches and may extend to many other insects.

Increasing mitochondrial activity in worms by engineering a light-activated proton pump into the organelle’s membrane extends the animals’ lifespan without evidence of health decline, according to a preprint.

A CRISPR-based system that reverses epigenetic changes caused by adolescent binge drinking reduces adult addiction-like behaviors in rats, a study finds, suggesting that an epigenomic approach could someday help treat people with alcohol use disorder.

The accidental finding marks the first time a phenomenon called cytoplasmic sterility, known to occur in plants, has been found in animals.

Though scientists don’t yet know much about it, a newly described process called erebosis might have profound implications for how the gut maintains itself.

The new fossil from Laos helps answer the question of how some people from Oceania carry DNA from the ancient hominin.

See some of the coolest images recently featured by The Scientist

In two related studies, researchers describe huge chromosomal rearrangements and about 500 novel gene clusters in the octopus, squid, and cuttlefish genomes, which they say could help explain how they evolved their extraordinary brains.

Deletions in the sleepy lizard genome leave it without an important type of T cells found in most other vertebrates.

Inbreeding depression won’t bring the 10 remaining vaquitas to extinction.

Mice rendered infertile through ovary cell–targeting mutations gave birth to seemingly normal offspring through natural mating after a virus-based gene therapy was injected into their ovaries.

New techniques have shown that people reached the New World far earlier than the long-standing estimate of 13,000 years ago, but scientists still debate exactly when humans arrived on the continent—and how.

Diverse lines of evidence point to humans’ presence in the New World long before the dawn of Clovis culture. But rewriting this chapter of human history raises many questions about how these early people came to inhabit these continents.