How Old Is the Maltese, Really?

Many dog fanciers like to trace their favorite breed to antiquity, but the researchers who study the modern and ancient DNA of dogs have a different perspective.

Cancer Without Chemotherapy: ‘A Totally Different World’

A growing number of cancer patients, especially those with breast and lung cancers, are being spared the dreaded treatment in favor of other options.

Is Aerobic Exercise the Key to Successful Aging? (Published 2018)

Aerobic activities like jogging and interval training can make our cells biologically younger; weight training did not have the same effect.

Opinion | Clamping Down on ‘Spiritual Opium’

Chinese tech regulation, Elizabeth Holmes’s trial and Facebook’s obfuscation.

How Humans Lost Their Tails

A new study suggests that a single genetic mutation helps explain why monkeys have tails, while apes and people do not.

Opinion | What Is 23andMe Doing With Your DNA?

C.E.O. Anne Wojcicki grapples with the ethical questions that come with building a business on customers’ personal information.

Opinion | What Is 23andMe Doing With Your DNA?

C.E.O. Anne Wojcicki grapples with the ethical questions that come with building a business on customers’ personal information.

Biology Starts to Get a Technological Makeover

The story of Ginkgo Bioworks shows the challenges and progress in the emerging field of synthetic biology.

Biology Starts to Get a Technological Makeover

The story of Ginkgo Bioworks shows the challenges and progress in the emerging field of synthetic biology.

Pioneering Gene Therapy Freed Her of Sickle Cell. Is a Cure at Hand?

Such treatments are extraordinarily promising and costly. Will the Biden administration commit to spending that could speed clinical trial results?

A New Company With a Wild Mission: Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth

With $15 million in private funding, Colossal aims to bring thousands of woolly mammoths back to Siberia. Some scientists are deeply skeptical that will happen.

Two Scientific Journals Retract Articles Involving Chinese DNA Research

The rare retractions come after several scientists raised questions about how Chinese researchers obtained the full consent of their Uyghur subjects.

How the Cat Gets Its Stripes: It’s Genetics, Not a Folk Tale

Researchers took a deep dive into embryonic development to tease out the source of the tabby pattern in cats.

How the Cat Gets Its Stripes: It’s Genetics, Not a Folk Tale

Researchers took a deep dive into embryonic development to tease out the source of the tabby pattern in cats.

Searching for Bird Life in a Former ‘Ocean of Forest’

A century after museum collectors surveyed Colombia’s avian fauna, a new generation of researchers returns to see what remains, and what has changed.

Exercise May Help to Fend Off Depression (Published 2019)

Jogging for 15 minutes a day, or walking or gardening for somewhat longer, could help protect people against developing depression.

Is Your Sleep Cycle Out of Sync? It May Be Genetic (Published 2019)

Sleep patterns often run in families, and researchers have been identifying genes that influence them.

How Peppers Proliferated Around the Planet

In the world’s plant gene banks, scientists studied how so many varieties of the humble capsicum worked their way onto our plates.

Saved by a Bucket, but Can the Owens Pupfish Survive?

A new refuge in the California desert offers a long imperiled species its first real chance to thrive.

How a Gecko From Africa Crossed the Atlantic Ocean

The African house gecko, one of the most widely distributed invasive reptiles in the world, may have moved with the trans-Atlantic slave trade.