Genes Are Us

People with a specific mutation in one gene are substantially more likely to be obese than those without it. But they are also at higher risk of suffering from environmental factors.

The only problem is that it may not be much of a code at all.

How we've co-opted our genetic material to change our world.

Our genomes are a mess—and we're only beginning to understand the societal costs behind such genetic uncertainty.

Wait, why is there a Pokemon gene?

We thought we knew how we'd been shaped by evolution. We were wrong.

They remain our best investment for improving the world's health.

Our genes only tell a portion of the story.

Sometimes it just doesn't make any sense to try to separate the social and the biological.

The distinction between males and females is one of the oldest facts of biology—but how did it come to affect our social identity?

When comparing the social and the biological, it helps to look at how the breakdown of one can influence the other.

To get closer to an answer, it's helpful to look at two things we've taught ourselves over time: reading and math.

The majority of American children with cancer will be cured, but it may leave them unable to have children of their own. Should preserving fertility in cancer survivors be a research priority?

Online discussions and post-publication analyses are catching mistakes that sneak past editorial review.

Despite the recent discovery of the "blonde gene," environmental differences and genetic effects remain inextricably linked.

While it's not clear whether or not they worked for the Cleopatra star over a half-century ago, phage treatments could help solve the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.

Some gene-shifting possibilities once only thought to be in the realm of science fiction could soon be a reality.

It seems like an easy question, but the indirect correlation between genetic mutations and disease risk muddles up the ethics.

Modern statistics have made it easier than ever for us to fool ourselves.

DNA doesn't determine race. Society does.

Sorry, amateur biohackers.

What's not a cause of autism? Vaccines. What is? Genetics—but only in a partial, tangled, complicated way that we're still trying to figure out.

Genes don't consistently do what we once thought they would, so it's time to reconsider what we mean when we say the word.

Despite numerous recent breakthroughs and discoveries, the extreme competition and lab-research feedback loop don't bode well for the future of the field.