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Genetics

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science

Astronomy Biology Biotechnology Chemistry Complexity Computing and artificial intelligence Cosmology Deep time Earth science and climate Ecology and environmental sciences Engineering Evolution Genetics History of science Human evolution Human reproduction Illness and disease Mathematics Medicine Oceans and water Palaeontology Physics Quantum theory Space exploration

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Photo of a black and white moth with speckled wings against a dark background.

essayGenetics

Beanbag genetics

Today a bitter dispute about the nature of biology is underway. A simple bag of beans may be what tips the balance

Zachary B Hancock

A man in yellow shorts floating on his back in a swimming pool, with dark lane markings and reflections in the water.

essayHistory of science

Forwards, not back

Medicine aims to return bodies to the state they were in before illness. But there’s a better way of thinking about health

Kate MacCord & Jane Maienschein

A man and a woman smiling with their hands on the shoulders of a Neanderthal figure with long hair and a beard but in modern clothes.

videoGenetics

Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals

22 minutes

Abstract art depicting DNA sequencing, with vertical bands of vibrant colours including yellow, red, blue and green, blending into each other with a glossy, reflective texture.

essayGenetics

We are not machines

Welcome to the new post-genomic biology: a transformative era in need of fresh metaphors to understand how life works

Philip Ball

An early morning view across an old bridge towards the spires of a historic medieval city partially obscured by fog

essayHome

Return of the descendants

I migrated to my ancestral homeland in a search for identity. It proved to be a humbling experience in (un)belonging

Jessica Buchleitner

Close-up of a person’s hand gently holding the wet snout of a black cow, with a blurred green background.

essayEvolution

Kinship

Science must become attuned to the subtle conversations that pervade all life, from the primordial to the present

David Waltner-Toews

A double-exposure image of a dancer on stage against a black backdrop, his body is lit and partly shot in motion blur

essayGenetics

Artists of our own lives

The genome is the starting point for a performance we enact over a lifetime, not a blueprint we’ve got to follow

Richard O Prum

Peach Twig (Prunus Persica) (1918) by Royal Charles Steadman

videoBiology

In 1886, a US agency set out to record new fruit varieties. The results are wondrous

5 minutes

Blue Betta fish with flowing fins swimming in a black background.

essayGenetics

Evolution without accidents

Despite advances in molecular genetics, too many biologists think that natural selection is driven by random mutations

James A Shapiro

Two elderly women in red dresses and sunglasses standing in front of a tropical mural with birds, flowers, and a full moon.

essayPersonality

The myth of mirrored twins

What do the lives of twins tell us about heritability, selfhood and the age-old debate between nature and nurture?

Gavin Evans

A close-up image of a human embryo at the eight-cell stage, viewed under a microscope with a red and dark background.

essayBioethics

Selected before birth

Embryo risk screening could lower the odds of illnesses ranging from depression to diabetes. Can it be ethically done?

Todd Lencz & Shai Carmi

Microscopic image of a green cell adjacent to a larger pink cell on a black background.

essayEvolution

What on earth is a xenobot?

The more we understand how cells produce shape and form, the more inadequate the idea of a genomic blueprint looks

Philip Ball

Half-submerged view of a vibrant coral reef underwater with a sandy island and a clear blue sky in the background.

essayEvolution

The web of life

Classic evolutionary theory holds that species separate over time. But it’s fuzzier than that – now we know they also merge

Juli Berwald

Close-up of a barracuda swimming underwater with several smaller fish in the background.

essayGenetics

An idea with bite

The ‘selfish gene’ persists for the reason all good scientific metaphors do: it remains a sharp tool for clear thinking

J Arvid Ågren

Microscopic image of colourful neural tissue with bright pink, green and blue cells, showing intricate patterns.

essayHuman evolution

Brains in a dish

What pea-sized brain organoids reveal about consciousness, the self and our future as a species

Alysson Muotri

Sets of twins wearing matching outfits and sashes sit in folding chairs in a line on a stage. Some are holding bouquets or wearing plastic crowns.

essayGenetics

The science of terrible men

The pioneers of social genetics were racists and eugenicists: should we give up on the science they founded altogether?

Kathryn Paige Harden

Photo of a scientist with braided hair examining a sample. She wears orange gloves and looks attentively at the object in a laboratory.

videoGenetics

If trauma can be passed down, could new therapies blunt the transgenerational impact?

9 minutes

Two parents sitting on a sofa with two children in their laps, the girl holds a baby doll, against a teal wall in a cosy living room.

essayGenetics

The genes we’re dealt

The new field of social genomics can be used by progressives to combat racial inequality or by conservatives to excuse it

Erik Parens

Cubist painting of abstract nude figures and geometric landscapes in muted colours with green trees, houses, and a cloudy sky.

essayHuman evolution

Choose your own birth

Every human is both an animal with a deep evolutionary history and an individual who must bring their existence into being

Ada Jaarsma

A muscular shirtless man with a dogtag necklace lowers his sunglasses, looking at something or someone, while standing next to a car.

ideaGender

Testosterone is widely, and sometimes wildly, misunderstood

Matthew Gutmann

Abstract digital art showing a striped, oval shape with shades of red connected with a cream-coloured line on a teal background.

videoHuman evolution

In the tug-of-war between mother and baby, the placenta is a life-giving referee

4 minutes

A light-coloured axolotl with a smiling expression, surrounded by dark rocks and water in an aquarium.

ideaBiology

Consider the axolotl: our great hope of regeneration?

Scott Sayare

A collage of vintage wedding photos featuring different couples in wedding attire.

videoMood and emotion

Till genetics do us part – why the success of your marriage is encoded at birth

5 minutes

Painting of a group of elegantly dressed individuals, including children and cherubs, in a lush outdoor setting with trees and hills.

ideaGenetics

Like the emperor’s new clothes, DNA kits are a tailored illusion

George Estreich