Genes are the building blocks of life, and the genetic code provides the instructions for the complex processes that make organisms function. But how and why did it come to be the way it is? Subscribe ...

Cells working with an expanded genetic code could make more diverse medicines. A new study shows scientists are within striking distance. One of modern biologists' most ambitious goals is to learn how ...

The genetic code acts as life’s instruction manual, telling cells how to build proteins from DNA and RNA. Though it's a marvel of molecular precision, the path it took to evolve remains unclear. Fresh ...

A surprising number of microbes use alternate genetic codes, different from the standard genetic code that governs the large majority of life. A census of these "recoded" genomes was recently reported ...

For Save the Koala Day, learn how conservation geneticist Rebecca Johnson’s work helps protect these iconic marsupials Jack Tamisiea Smithsonian chief scientist Rebecca Johnson snaps a selfie with one ...

URBANA, Ill. – Genes are the building blocks of life, and the genetic code provides the instructions for the complex processes that make organisms function. But how and why did it come to be the way ...