As male Drosophila grow old, selfish genetic elements that are abundant on the Y chromosome become more active, which appears to reduce longevity.

New microscopy techniques reveal that heterochromatin—the condensed, seemingly dormant portions of DNA—is not as dense as scientists once thought.

Fueled by her love of visual data and addicted to chromosomes, Abby Dernburg continues to study how homologous chromosomes find each other during gamete formation.