Genetics

An international consortium of researchers has synthesized about a third of the genetic code of baker's yeast. It's an important milestone in science's quest to create complex "synthetic life."

A newly released study examines why European cave art includes drawings of two distinct types of bison. One of the types is a newly discovered ancestor of modern bison.

Hip humans aren't the only ones growing outrageous facial hair. Some chickens do, too. And now, geneticists in China have discovered the cause.

An independent federal panel says the experimental procedure needs to be proven safe, and even then should only be tried with male embryos because of concerns about passing down genetic errors.

A love for coffee may run deep in the Northwest, but now a Seattle scientist says the craving for coffee seems to be written into some people’s…

A researcher in genetics at the University of Washington has won a prominent award, sometimes referred to as the American version of the Nobel Prize, in…

Even the tiniest misprint in a person’s genetic code can cause big health problems, but they can be hard to find. Now members of a team at University of…

A Utah biotech company argued that its discovery of two genes highly associated with breast and ovarian cancer deserved to be patented. A unanimous court disagreed. Researchers, medical groups and patients had been pushing for the patent to be denied.

Thousands of years ago, ancient farmers gained the ability to consume milk as adults without getting an upset stomach. A remarkable mutation let some of them digest lactose sugar. But scientists still puzzle over why that mutation persisted and became prevalent in modern humans.

A Chinese scientist recently suggested that prehistoric humans ate pandas. The evidence, based on cut marks on panda bones, strikes me as thin, but the…