A groundbreaking study suggests that our genes may play a much larger role in our expiration date than we ever imagined.

For millennia, evolution has intrigued many great thinkers, prompting questions about how new traits emerge as species adapt over time. Then, attention shifted to natural selection and the inheritance ...

As a nurse working in an elder care facility, Isabelle Foote saw it every day: Some people age better than others. Some eased into their 90s with mind and body intact, while others battled diabetes, ...

Lurking within the genomes of nearly all species--including plants, fungi, and even humans--are genes that are passed from generation to generation with no clear benefit to the organism. Called ...

In the 1990s, Lee Sweeney, a physiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, demonstrated that inserting the gene encoding insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) into the muscle cells of mice increased ...

Which genes are required for turning embryonic stem cells into brain cells, and what happens when this process goes wrong? In a new study published today in Nature Neuroscience, researchers led by ...

Muscles make up nearly 40% of the human body and power every move we make, from a child's first steps to recovery after injury. For some, however, muscle development goes awry, leading to weakness, ...

Scientists studying thousands of rats discovered that gut bacteria are shaped by both personal genetics and the genetics of social partners. Some genes promote certain microbes that can spread between ...

Revolutions in gene therapy are rapidly changing the landscape of modern medicine. Revolutions in gene therapy are rapidly changing the landscape of modern medicine, forcing society and science alike ...