The myriads of microbes in our gut, collectively termed the microbiome, are considered important to our health, but they can also harbor bacteria that contribute to inflammatory bowel disease or other disorders. Currently, however, it is impossible to target such disease-contributing bacteria without harming the surrounding beneficial microbes.

There's something really peculiar about ferns.

Seventy thousand species. That’s the best guess for the tally of life, including plants, animals and fungi, found in Britain and Ireland. And it’s the target of one of biology's most ambitious projects - scientists want to map the DNA of every single one of these organisms.

A new CRISPR-based map ties every human gene to its function using a tool called Perturb-seq. The work was led by Jonathan Weissman and colleagues at MIT and the Whitehead Institute, and is free for other scientists to use.

When Kurt Benirschke started collecting skin samples from rare and endangered animals in 1972, he didn't have a firm plan on what to do with them. As a researcher at the University of California San Diego, he believed that one day the tools would be developed to use them to save those animals. A few years later, he moved his collection to San Diego Zoo, and called it the Frozen Zoo.

A new method developed at the University of Copenhagen has been used to identify more than 1,000 bactericidal viruses in the human intestines. The researchers believe the discovery may help fight antibiotic resistance.

Researchers have created the most comprehensive healthy human cell atlas to date, tracking the placements of over a million cells across 33 organs in a vast joint effort.

Researchers have taken advantage of a rare opportunity to study identical (aka monozygotic) twins who were separated early in life, before being raised in different countries by different families – and there are some surprising results to report.

The first high-quality Australian dingo genome gives a multi-thousand-year-old snapshot into the evolutionary history of dogs.

Researchers from a USC-led consortium have discovered 15 “hot spots” in the genome that either speed up brain aging or slow it down — a finding that could provide new drug targets to resist developmental delays, Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative brain disorders.

Researchers are excited by the potential it holds

A type of DNA computer that shows results through the motion of tiny beads could massively increase the parallel processing power of such machines. DNA computers take up less space than silicon-based ones and can work in wet environments. They could be used for applications such as detecting contamination in drinking water or monitoring sugar levels in the body.

The search for immortality is the oldest tale in the world. Literally: the oldest written story known to historians is The Epic of Gilgamesh, first written down in Sumerian cuneiform on clay tablets, about 4,000 years ago in what is now Iraq. In it, King Gilgamesh seeks a plant which grants eternal life. (He finds it, but a snake steals it before he can use it.)

As with most things, nature’s data storage system, DNA, far surpasses anything we’ve created. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have doubled its already incredible storage capacity by adding extra letters to its “alphabet,” and developed a new way to read it back.

The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, is one of Australia's most iconic species. Even though it has been extinct since 1936, the slender, striped marsupial maintains its place in Australian mythology because of a constant string of supposed sightings that has captivated the public and the media. Just last year, one group claimed to have spotted the "Tassie tiger" padding through Australia's forests. The claims were never verified.

The Justinianic Plague spread through west Eurasia between the 6th and 8th centuries CE, signifying the first known outbreak of bubonic plague in this part of the world. According to a new analysis of ancient texts and genetic data, its impact was much more severe than some recent studies have suggested.

“This gives us hope that the human immune system is powerful enough to ... eliminate all the functional virus,” said the senior author.

A man’s claim to be the great-grandson of legendary Native American leader Sitting Bull has been confirmed using DNA extracted from Sitting Bull’s scalp lock.

Viruses have gotten a bad rap for the many illnesses and pandemics they’ve caused. But viruses are also genetic innovators – and possibly the pioneers of using DNA as the genetic blueprint of life.

DNA evidence has finally ended the debate about where the ancient Etruscans – an ancient civilization whose remains are found in Italy – came from.