Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Researchers analyzing 4.3 billion dipeptides say tiny protein pairs hold clues to how the genetic code formed and expanded over ...

In a giant feat of genetic engineering, scientists have created bacteria that make proteins in a radically different way than all natural species do. By Carl Zimmer At the heart of all life is a code.

The genetic code is the recipe for life, and provides the instructions for how to make proteins, generally using just 20 amino acids. But certain groups of microbes have an expanded genetic code, in ...

Life runs on instructions you never see. Every cell reads DNA, turns that message into RNA, and then builds proteins that keep you alive. That translation system feels so basic that it is easy to ...