Researchers have created the largest atlas of post-zygotic genome mutations in healthy human tissue ever assembled -- a scientific advancement that could unlock new avenues for diagnosing and treating ...

Thousands of previously “invisible” microproteins—tiny chains of fewer than 100 amino acids—can profoundly change human biology when mutated. A fundamental discovery is overturning decades of ...

In a major step toward treating rare neurological diseases, scientists have used gene editing to correct mutations inside the brain of living mice with a single injection. This new approach, described ...

Two critical mutations appeared roughly 200,000 years ago in a gene linked to language, then swept through the population at roughly the same time anatomically modern humans began to dominate the ...

Horses didn’t just change how people traveled. They rewired the course of civilization. Yet scientists have always puzzled ...

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on ...

As we age, the genes in our cells accumulate more mutations. This is one of the contributory factors to age-related diseases and the aging process. However, in a new study published in Science ...

A new study by biologists from the Scripps Research Institute shows that a bird flu virus is just a single mutation away from having human-ready receptors. If the H5N1 virus does make the switch, it ...

Bird flu is back with a vengeance. Medical experts have discovered that one variant of the avian flu virus, dubbed H3N8, has undergone several mutations and can now cause more severe infections.