Giraffes have FOUR distinct species, genome study reveals

Efforts to map the genome of giraffes has confirmed that there are four distinct species, and they are as different to one another as brown bears and polar bears.  Visually, they are hardly distinguishable, according to LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics scientists, who carried out the genetic analyses. Despite looking the same, genetically there are four … Read more

UK ‘super covid’ has spread to EVERY US state as expert warns CDC needs to ramp up genome sequencing

The coronavirus variant that was first identified in the UK has now spread to every single state in the U.S. As of Tuesday, Oklahoma became the final state to confirm infections linked to the strain, known as B 1.1.7. There are currently at least 15,511 cases of the variant across the country, including in the … Read more

Genome sequencing traces likely roots of White House coronavirus strain

Scientists have sequenced the genome of a coronavirus strain that likely infected President Trump and dozens of his advisers and others with whom he came into contact.  It comes after the White House deemed the source of President Trump’s infection ‘unknowable,’ and refused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) offer to assist in … Read more

Penicillin: fungus accidentally grown by Fleming in 1928 has its genome sequenced for the first time

The penicillin mould accidentally grown by physician and microbiologist Alexander Fleming in London in 1928 has had its genome sequenced for the first time. Researchers from the UK analysed frozen samples of Sir Fleming’s original strain of the fungus — and compared them with their modern, industrially-used counterparts. They found that the wild UK strain used … Read more

Penicillin: fungus accidentally grown by Fleming in 1928 has its genome sequenced for the first time

The mould that changed the world: Penicillin fungus accidentally grown by Alexander Fleming in 1928 has its genome sequenced for the first time Researchers cultivated mould from frozen samples of Fleming’s original fungus They then compared its genome with those of modern strains used industrially These US versions make penicillin slightly differently to Flemings’ wild … Read more