Michael Marshall
Next breakthrough CRISPR crop? Turning wild rice species into a domesticated crop
[Jiayang] Li, a plant geneticist at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing, is working on a wild ...
Size isn’t everything: Brain connections and neuron wiring contribute more to human intelligence than volume
Human brains are bigger than those of our primate relatives, but evidence from extinct human ancestors suggests brain size isn't ...
Artificial intelligence helps researchers unpack the mystery of how life on Earth began
AI is helping chemists unpick the mysteries around the origins of life and detect signs of it on other worlds ...
10% of the human genome is made up of viruses. Here’s how they helped shape our species’ evolution
Devastating pandemics, viruses have also played an important role in human evolution – and without them you wouldn't be here ...
No human genome has ever been read in its entirety before. This year, that might change
No human genome has ever been read in its entirety before. This year, scientists expect to pass that milestone for ...
Homo bodoensis: New ancient human species might have been identified — but not all experts agree
A new species of extinct human has been named: Homo bodoensis. The species hasn’t been identified based on new fossils, ...
Charles Darwin proposed the theory of life’s watery creation 100 years ahead of everyone else
Darwin never wrote about how life began in his books, but he did speculate about it in private. The key ...
‘A radical idea’: Could a single factor be responsible for all mental illnesses?
What are the roots of mental illness? In the hope of finding an answer, scientists have piled up an enormous ...
Will 2014 be year of the 1-million-year-old genome?
Dinosaurs resurrected using preserved DNA still only exist in Jurassic Park, but we're making great strides in sequencing the genomes ...
400,000 year-old human DNA revolutionizing view of evolution
Deep inside the Atapuerca cave system in northern Spain, 30 metres beneath the surface, lies the Sima de los Huesos, ...
Scientists ID new humpback dolphin species
It has always been difficult to determine how many humpback dolphin species there are. Many biologists think there are just ...
DNA-grabbing bacteria hint at early phase of evolution
Parts of us may never die – not quite, anyway. Lab tests involving microbes and a mammoth bone have shown ...
‘New life’ found in Antarctica’s Lake Vostok
The following is an edited excerpt. There is something alive in Lake Vostok, deep beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet, ...
Scientists increasingly support sustainability advantages of GM crops
The idea that genetic modification is in itself harmful now appears to be a minority viewpoint. Scientists are decisively coming ...