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Genetics is the study of genes, which are the basic units of inheritance that contain the blueprint for life, from determining the way that organisms look to every physiological process that occurs within them. Advances in genetics have come a long way since the discovery of the double helix of DNA in 1953. Scientists can now sequence the entire genetic code of thousands of people on a large scale to pinpoint genes that are associated with specific diseases and flag them as targets for drug development. Likewise, enzymes from bacteria can be used to modify genes for a plethora of purposes, including healthcare and farming.
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A doctor discovered the gene mutation behind his family's mysterious missing-teeth condition
A doctor who had a genetic condition that prevents teeth from forming searched for the DNA mutation that had affected his family for over 150 years.
'It doesn't lie. So who are you?': What happens when DNA tests show a woman is not the mother of the child she gave birth to?
"At first, I kind of laughed … But they were serious. I could just see the seriousness in their faces." In this book excerpt, Lise Barnéoud explores the limitations of DNA testing.
'Some of them have accuracy that's close to zero': Experts unpack the promise and pitfalls of genetic tests aimed at consumers
Live Science spoke with a bioethicist and sociologist about emerging genomic technologies, including those that enable parents to "score" and "select" IVF embryos.
Emerging embryo-selection technologies are currently 'little more than snake oil.' But someday, they could widen social inequities.
Book In the book "What We Inherit," experts unpack long-standing myths about genes and how those myths could shape public opinion around emerging embryo-selection technologies.
New tech allows parents to 'score' IVF embryos for desirable traits — and it's in desperate need of regulation
Opinion Companies now offer polygenic embryo selection to prospective parents undergoing IVF. But the technology is dangerously underregulated.
Many men lose their Y chromosomes as they age. It may shorten their lives.
A researcher explores why men lose their Y chromosomes in cells as they age and the health implications associated with this loss.
Science history: 'Father of modern genetics' describes his experiments with pea plants — and proves that heredity is transmitted in discrete units — Feb. 8, 1865
Gregor Mendel described his experiments with pea plants and proved that genes are transmitted in discrete units, with certain fundamental laws of inheritance.
These genes were thought to lead to blindness 100% of the time. They don't.
New research finds that retinal diseases thought to map one-to-one to genetic mutations are more complicated than that.
DNA from ancient viral infections helps embryos develop, mouse study reveals
A stretch of viral DNA in the mouse genome gives cells in early-stage embryos the potential to become almost any cell type in the body.
Leonardo da Vinci's DNA may be embedded in his art — and scientists think they've managed to extract some
In a first, scientists have extracted DNA from a Renaissance-era drawing attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, but they can't be sure that the genetic material belongs to the Italian polymath.
