For years, the dense loops of repetitive DNA clustered near the middle of chromosomes were treated as evolutionary clutter. According to the new study published in Nature, titled ‘Meiotic pairing through barcode-like satellite DNA repeats‘, researchers working with fruit flies have shown that this so-called satellite DNA forms a kind of barcode: a unique combination…
Scientists have traced hidden pathways through animal evolution by comparing thousands of genomes and following pieces of chromosomes that have survived for hundreds of millions of years. The study examined 5,821 chromosome-scale genomes from 4,454 species across 19 animal phyla, using 29 ancient linkage groups as markers of chromosome history. Every one of the 406…
Representative Image of ancient human evolution showing the genetic connections between humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans (AI-generated image) Modern humans already carry small amounts of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA, evidence that our ancestors interbred with other human groups tens of thousands of years ago. Both lineages are known from ancient remains, including fossils from which scientists…
The Moon has been romanticised for centuries, but few people have ever tried to give someone a piece of it. In 2002, that idea became part of an extraordinary theft at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center, where an intern helped remove a safe containing Apollo lunar samples and other irreplaceable scientific material. The stolen collection included…
An invasive beetle wiped out black ash trees across parts of North America Researchers have created a living seed bank to protect North America’s endangered black ash trees from extinction after decades of damage from an invasive insect. Led by scientists at Pennsylvania State University, the conservation project has successfully germinated 22,000 black ash seeds…
Researchers transporting Galvezia leucantha subsp. Leucantha at the restoration site, preparing for its planting A critically endangered shrub that once came close to disappearing from the Galápagos Islands is showing signs of a slow but important recovery after a careful conservation effort lasting nearly three decades. According to findings published in the journal Nature Conservation…
Deep inside a crystal cooled to nearly -230°C, MIT physicists have caught something rarely seen in quantum materials: two populations of electrons rebuilding themselves into wave-like order after being scattered apart by laser light, and doing so in two completely different ways. Working with erbium tritelluride, a rare-earth material known for hosting a pair of…
forever checmicals(Representative image) Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are often called “forever chemicals” because their ultra-strong carbon–fluorine bonds make them stubbornly resistant to breakdown in the environment. They’re prized in industry for repelling water, oil and heat, but that same durability means they persist in soil, water and living tissue long after use. Now, a…
Representative Image (Canva) The human brain is one of the first organs to break down after death, making the discovery of preserved brains at archaeological sites particularly puzzling. Yet thousands of ancient human brains have survived long after other soft tissues disappeared, sometimes remaining as the only preserved soft tissue in otherwise skeletonised remains. New…
Alyssa Yu (Poolesville High School, Poolesville, MD) A 17-year-old student from Maryland has developed a new mathematical framework to predict how multiple infectious diseases interact and spread through connected populations at the same time. Alyssa Yu, a senior at Poolesville High School in Montgomery County, created the computer model to address a major gap in…
