What scientists once dismissed as junk DNA may actually be some of the most powerful code in our genome. A new international study reveals that ancient viral DNA buried in our genes plays an active ...

DNA is often called the blueprint of life, but what does that really mean? Elizabeth Worthey, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Genetics in the Heersink School of Medicine, explains everything ...

Scientists have uncovered a previously unknown type of molecular motion inside DNA-based droplets: instead of spreading randomly, guest molecules advance in an organized wave. This surprising ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of ...

The human genome is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes, the biological blueprints that make humans … well, human. But it turns out that some of our DNA — about 8% — are the remnants of ancient viruses ...

A body found in a Long Island dumpster in 1982 was identified as 15-year-old Susan Mann, who went missing in 1980.