The Games Genes Play: Algorithm Helps Explain Sex in Evolution
What do you get when you mix theorists in computer science with evolutionary biologists? You get an algorithm to explain sex. It turns out that 155 years after Charles Darwin…
genetics
Microbes May Drive Evolution of New Animal Species
A little over a year ago, Bordenstein, a biologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and his then-graduate student, Robert Brucker, mated two incompatible species of wasp in the lab,…
HIV Transmission Networks Mapped to Reduce Infection Rate
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have mapped the transmission network of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in San Diego. The mapping of HIV infections, which…
Genetics In Court Is a Very Messy Business
Courts may soon face the challenge of determining whether genetics can be linked to criminal behavior. The “my genes made me do it” defense is not solely reserved for Law…
Genome Sequences Show How Lemurs Fight Infection
The young lemur named Eugenius started to get sick. Very sick. He was lethargic, losing weight and suffering from diarrhea. Duke Lemur Center veterinarians soon pinpointed the cause of his…
Scientists Urge Study of Environmental Factors That May Speed Aging
Why do our bodies age at different rates? Why can some people run marathons at the age of 70, while others are forced to use a walker? Genes are only…