Humans share over 90% of their DNA with their primate cousins. The expression or activity patterns of genes differ across species in ways that help explain each species' distinct biology and behavior.

Biology - Biotechnology

Nov 06, 2012 4.4 / 5 (7) 0 |

Johns Hopkins researchers have succeeded in teaching computers how to identify commonalities in DNA sequences known to regulate gene activity, and to then use those commonalities to predict other regulatory ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Nov 05, 2012 4.5 / 5 (2) 0 |

DNA sequencing of 36 complete Y chromosomes has uncovered a previously unknown period when the human population expanded rapidly. This population explosion occurred 40 to 50 thousand years ago, between the ...

Biology - Evolution

Oct 30, 2012 4.7 / 5 (13) 23 |

Evolution, often perceived as a series of random changes, might in fact be driven by a simple and repeated genetic solution to an environmental pressure that a broad range of specieshappen to share, according ...

Biology - Evolution

Oct 25, 2012 4.3 / 5 (7) 11

(Phys.org)—Theoretical physicists like to play with very unconventional toys. Manoel Manghi from Toulouse University in France and his colleagues have adopted a seemingly playful approach to examining what happens to a ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Oct 25, 2012 4.3 / 5 (3) 0 |

Just how new species are established is still one of the most central questions in biology. In an article in the leading scientific journal Nature, researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden describe how th ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Oct 24, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 0 |

Pop music megastar Lady Gaga is being honored with the name of a new genus of ferns found in Central and South America, Mexico, Arizona and Texas. A genus is a group of closely related species; in this case, 19 species of ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Oct 23, 2012 3.3 / 5 (6) 0

Cod was once a staple diet across many European countries, and so important in fact that in the past some countries have even gone to war over this important resource. Their popularity, however, meant that ...

Biology - Ecology

Oct 22, 2012 not rated yet 0

Apparently, there just aren't enough genomes for Craig Venter to sequence here on Earth, so he's making plans to send a DNA sequencer to Mars.

Space & Earth - Space Exploration

Oct 19, 2012 3.8 / 5 (15) 18

(Phys.org)—As part of an international consortium, scientists led by UA plant sciences professor Rod Wing have helped decipher the genetic alphabet of the barley plant. This is the largest plant genome ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Oct 17, 2012 4.5 / 5 (4) 3 |

The genomes of birds are riddled with DNA sequences from viruses, according to a study to be published on October 16 in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Analysis of these viral ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Oct 16, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0 |

In silico prediction of protein folding has the potential to reveal the specificity of a given protein sequence for DNA. Such methods are particularly promising as they could open the road to the rational ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Oct 15, 2012 not rated yet 0

A collaboration between researchers at Columbia University and Marija Drndić of the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant for a project aimed at reducing the cost ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Oct 15, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0

Today's life scientists are producing genomes galore.

Technology - Computer Sciences

Oct 03, 2012 not rated yet 0

(Phys.org)—Rapid, accurate genetic sequencing soon may be within reach of every doctor's office if recent research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Columbia University's ...

Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine

Oct 03, 2012 5 / 5 (4) 1 |