A new DNA analysis of more than 400 types of lettuce reveals the food’s humble beginnings as a wild plant grown by ancient Egyptians to the common vegetable we know today. Researchers from Wageningen University & Research and the Chinese BGI found modern varieties of lettuce mostly resemble their weed-like predecessors grown only for their … Read more
Season six of Line Of Duty has left fans with more questions than answers, with viewers flocking to Twitter to question what exactly is DCI Jo Davidson is up to, whether Kate Fleming has really left AC-12 and who is H? Here, MailOnline examines some of the most prominent fan theories Kate Fleming HASN’T left … Read more
First humans who crossed the Bering Strait some 15,000 years ago had indigenous Australian DNA that is now found in the bloodline of South America tribes, study finds Previous work found ancient Australian DNA in modern-day Amazonians However, a new study finds the ancestral DN runs deeper in South America A genetical analysis found tribes along the Pacific … Read more
ANTHROPOLOGY THE HANDSHAKE by Ella Al-Shamahi (Profile £10.99, 176pp) David Attenborough once found himself in a ‘potentially hairy’ situation in New Guinea when a remote tribe charged at him with spears. Ever the gentleman, Attenborough calmly extended his hand and said, ‘Good afternoon’. The tribe members pumped his hand up and down. Granted, this was … Read more
Lighting striking the surface of planet Earth billions of years ago may have unlocked the phosphorus necessary for the creation of DNA, cells and bones, a new study has revealed. Researchers at Yale and the University of Leeds say the essential spark may have taken a quintillion – a number with 30 zeroes – lightning … Read more
He was the King depicted by William Shakespeare as a hunchback villain. But now geneticists are expected to shed light on whether or not Richard III really did have a dark side. Scientists at Leicester University’s department of genetics have sequenced the complete genome of the last Plantagenet King. The team is led by Professor … Read more
He was the King depicted by William Shakespeare as a hunchback villain. But now geneticists are expected to shed light on whether or not Richard III really did have a dark side. Scientists at Leicester University’s department of genetics have sequenced the complete genome of the last Plantagenet King. The team is led by Professor … Read more
The world’s oldest DNA is 1.2 million years old and comes from a previously unknown genetic lineage of mammoth, called the Krestovka mammoth, a new study reveals. Researchers analysed genomes from three ancient mammoths, using DNA recovered from mammoth teeth buried in Siberian permafrost. One genome dated back 1.2 million years and has been named the … Read more
Scientists have successfully identified, extracted and analysed the oldest ever DNA from an animal which was not frozen and preserved in permafrost. The 360,000-year-old genetic material came from the bone of a cave bear, the larger and vegetarian relative of polar and brown bears, which died in what is now Georgia during the Middle Pleistocene. … Read more
The highest resolution images of a single molecule of DNA ever captured have been taken by a team of scientists, and they show atoms ‘dancing’ as they twist and writhe. Researchers from Sheffield, Leeds and York universities combined advanced atomic microscopy with supercomputer simulations to create videos of the molecules. The resolution combined with the … Read more