Along the Tiger's Trail: Genetic Studies Aid Conservation
Editor's Note: "Along the Tiger's Trail" is a series about the efforts to monitor tigers and their prey in the Malenad landscape in southwestern India that harbors one of the world's largest population of wild tigers.
A New Tool for Conservation Genetics: Seal Placentas
It's a sad fact that as members of a species become rarer they tend to suffer from inbreeding. This lack of genetic diversity can lead to birth defects and other problems, making a species even more endangered as time progresses.
Subway DNA Survey Finds Microbes, Mozzarella and Mystery
Scientists sequenced genetic material found in all 468 New York City subway stations, and nearly half matched no known organism. Christopher Intagliata reports
Octopus Genome Remains Elusive—But Full of Promise
As many mysteries as the octopus holds—its comprehensive camouflage, smart suckers, agile brain—its genome is surely holding many more (including how it can regenerate its arms—suckers, nerves and all).
Parasitic Trypanosomes Contain Nature’s Only Chain Mail DNA
The organisms that cause us untold suffering can also be astounding works of art, sculpted by evolution into elegant, deadly packages. Such is the case for the trypanosomes, the protists I discussed last time as the source of Chagas Disease, but which also cause sleeping sickness in Africa.
Tiger Skins Are Like Fingerprints; Could That Help Stop Smugglers and Poachers?
Last month forest rangers in India arrested a 21-year-old engineering student and his friend who had been caught carrying a tiger skin that they intended to sell for nearly $25,000.
The Case for Inheritance of Epigenetic Changes in Chromosomes
Harmful chemicals, stress and other influences can permanently alter which genes are turned on without changing any of the genes' code. Now, it appears, some of these “epigenetic” changes are passed down to—and may cause disease in— future generations
DNA with Man-Made Bases Functions Just Fine
These “unnatural base pairs” are a first for synthetic biology
DNA Finds New Octopus Species Hiding in Plain Sight
Describing a new species for science is not quite as easy as it was in the days of 17th- or 18th-century naturalists. But that just means we have to look a little more closely.
Diet during Pregnancy Linked to Diabetes in Grandchildren
New work from the University of Cambridge solidifies link between epigenetic effects from in utero diet and health problems across generations
Genetic Mutation May Lead to Autism Subtype
CHD8, a gene that regulates the structure of DNA, is the closest thing so far to an “autism gene”
How to Get New Genes Into a Cell
A teeny device for fundamental genetics