genes
Startup looks to begin pig-to-human organ transplants by 2022
Porcine gene edits may allow such transplants without rejection.
How your genes could affect the quality of your marriage
How important is it to consider a romantic partner's genetic profile before getting married?
Wired that way: genes do shape behaviors but it’s complicated
The relationship between our genotypes and our psychological traits, while substantial, is highly indirect and emergent.
Sex with Neanderthals helped modern humans survive, says study
A new study shows how interbreeding of modern humans and Neanderthals boosted our genomes.
The first human esophagus grown in a lab
Scientists have grown a model human esophagus using pluripotent stem cells for the first time.
Cars Parts Show Us How Some Genetic Stats Mislead
We can “read” genes with ease now, but still can’t say what most of them “mean.” To show why we need clearer “causology” and fitter metaphors, let's scrutinize cars and their parts like we do bodies and genes.
Even If Genes Affect Intelligence, We Can’t Engineer Cleverness
First, let me tell you how smart I am. So smart. My fifth-grade teacher said I was gifted in mathematics and, looking back, I have to admit that she was […]
Time To Update Science’s Mobile Army of Metaphors?
“Scientists should think like poets,” says E.O. Wilson, because new metaphors mobilize new thinking.
What Made Dogs Our Close Companions? New Study Finds It Was a Genetic Mutation
Funnily enough, some humans carry one of the very same genes.
In Evolution’s Orchestra, Soloists Aren’t the Fittest
A chorus of new science is showing that evolution has orchestrated life to leave no room for solos. A grander view of life is revealing higher-level, need-centric relational logic patterns (as in David Haskell’s The Songs of Trees).
Hey Bill Nye! Our Brains Are All the Same, So Why Aren’t People Identical?
Human minds are all powered by the same organ, so why do we have such strong preferences and diverse favorite things? Bill Nye lets us in on an example from his life.
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Memes 101: How Cultural Evolution Works
We are what we are because of genes; we are who we are because of memes. Philosopher Daniel Dennett muses on an idea put forward by Richard Dawkins in 1976.
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7 min
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Icelandic Study Suggests That Maybe We Are Getting Dumber
A new genetic study sees us getting gently stupider over time.
Hidden Logic of Genes In Genesis?
Scarcely noticed in the Eden story, there lurk fruitful scientific ideas about why biology generated morality.
Scientists are one step closer to reversing the aging process entirely
This particular type of gene therapy gave mice younger bodies and 30% longer lifespans.
Hey Bill Nye! Are We More a Product of Our Genes, or of Our Lifestyle?
Why are we the way that we are - is it nature or nurture? This week, Bill Nye answers a question from Evan, who is having a science argument with his mom.
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Does Life Work Like a Car Engine With Souped-up Complexity?
Does life work like our technology? Is life under the hood just like a car sporting souped-up complexity?
Each Of You Is A Multitude, Here’s Why
Our picture of life is going through a major shift. Ed Yong's book I Contain Multitudes reveals that a genome generally doesn’t contain all the genes an organism needs. Symbiosis isn’t rare, it's the rule. And we're just the icing on life's vast microbial cake.