Despite multiple attempts to resurrect woolly mammoths, the ancient animal species currently remains very much extinct. Their last known population—a group isolated by rising sea levels on Wrangel Island off the Siberian coast—managed to survive 6,000 years before finally disappearing roughly 10,000 years ago. But unlike the dinosaurs, what specifically caused the Wrangel mammoths to […]
Although Mayan written sources clearly document human sacrificial rituals, many details about the Mesoamerican civilization’s ceremonial victims remain unknown. Thanks to new genetic analysis, however, archeologists are piecing together the intricate religious and agricultural rites—and they are as revealing as they are grim. Centrally located in the northern Yucatán Peninsula, Chichén Itzá is considered one […]
A new investigation published today by Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology reveals the Department of Homeland Security has amassed 1.5 million people’s DNA in recent years thanks to a potentially unconstitutional and predatory legal amendment targeting marginalized communities—a 5,000-percent increase compared to its database’s previous two decades of existence. This genetic material is […]
The National Archives is partnering with the genealogy company Ancestry to digitize and index tens of millions of US records related to the military, immigration history, and Indigenous communities over the next 5 years. Announced on Thursday, organizers intend to make an initial 65.5 million documents available online within two years, including World War II […]
US farmers are closer than ever to raising genetically edited pigs immune to one of the animal’s deadliest diseases. But while millions of dollars could be saved with livestock impervious to highly virulent, diverse strains of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), animal rights groups maintain the cutting-edge idea isn’t an ethical solution, but yet […]
A data hack affecting 23andMe users is reportedly far more severe than what representatives first admitted to earlier this year. Although initially reported to affect less than one percent of users, additional datasets assessments confirmed by a company spokesperson over the weekend indicate as many as half of all 23andMe accounts could be involved in […]
Xenobots—a new classification of robots built from biological cells—evolved from theory to reality in only a few short years. Not long after first proposing the concept, researchers successfully harvested material from frog embryos to create their first multicellular biobots in 2020. From the outset, their xenobots could move, record data, collect materials, heal themselves, and […]
Colossal Biosciences is genetically engineering hybrids of woolly mammoths, dodos, and thylacines in a giant de-extinction experiment.
Researchers have coaxed common silkworms to spin a more durable, eco-friendlier spider silk—all it took was a few genetic modifications and hundreds of thousands of silkworm egg microinjections. Synthetic commercial fabrics like nylon are notoriously harmful to the environment because of the carbon footprint from their production processes, as well as their tendency to shed […]
The process revealed 41 new protein-coding genes, most of which are thought to be involved in sperm production.
