Stories by Heidi Ledford

Technique demonstrated in E. coli suggests way to record events

The technique could be used on everything from flowers to cells to examine the factors that influence the shapes of plant parts

Errors could cause researchers to overestimate the rate of photosynthesis when water is scarce

DNA of a 234-year-old tree has few mutations, giving weight to idea that plants protect their stem cells

New understanding may help reveal some causes of miscarriage

Geneticists harness two mutations to improve on 10,000 years of tomato domestication

Desperate farmers hope scientists can beat pathogen that is wrecking the US orange harvest

DNA sequences from 100-year-old tumor samples could bolster childhood cancer research

It remains to be seen whether the treatment, which was effective in a large clinical trial, will live up to its promise

A host of detailed cell atlases could revolutionize understanding of cancer and other diseases

Old-school areas of plant biology are getting tech upgrades that herald more detailed, faster data collection

Where did it come from? How do organisms use it without self-destructing? And what else can it do?

A probe led by House Republicans concluded that such work is of limited value 

Data highlight a slow year for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Dietary needs of these wandering cells could prove to be an Achilles hell

Next generation of Trojan-horse drugs designed to minimize damage to healthy cells

As gene editing opens doors, plant researchers are hamstrung by the need for better ways to slip their molecular tools into cells

Some autism symptoms reduced in children six years after their parents receive communications training

As the first T-cell therapies for tumors near U.S. approval, researchers race to engineer less-toxic alternatives 

The latest crop of prize predictions illuminates the century-long struggle to assign credit to individual researchers

The popular technique has limitations that have sparked searches for alternatives  

The effort will use next-generation cell-culture methods and fresh patient samples

Firms chase a new breed of advanced veterinary care, from antibodies to cell therapies

U.S. science academies advise caution in experimenting with gene drives