#39;Alien' DNA created in the lab - This is REAL Genius Our DNA as we know it is what makes all life on Earth... Life. It's divided into four distinct chemical units, called bases, which bind together in different orders to create the code that... By: This Is Genius … Continue reading →

A scientific breakthrough has expanded the way genetic information can be stored. STORY HIGHLIGHTS (CNN) -- All of life as we know it on Earth -- pigs, pandas, fish, bacteria and everything else -- has genetic information encoded in the same way, with the same biological alphabet. Now, for the first time, scientists have shown it is possible to alter that alphabet and still have a living organism that passes on the genetic information. They reported their findings in the journal Nature. "This is the first experimental demonstration that life can exist with information that's not coded the way nature does (it)," said Floyd Romesberg, associate professor of chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Medicine can greatly benefit from this discovery, Romesberg said. There's potential for better antibiotics and treatments for a slew of diseases for which drug development has been challenging, including cancers. The findings also suggest that DNA as we know it on Earth may not be the only solution to coding for life, Romesberg said. There may be other organisms elsewhere in space that use genetic letters we have never seen -- or that don't use DNA at all. "Is this alien life? … Continue reading →

DNA forensics can help lost Nigerian girls Chibok school girls who escaped from the Boko Haram Islamists gather to receive informations from officials. Photo: AFP Scientists in the United States believe they can help identify Nigerias missing schoolgirls by using DNA technologyFrom AFP Forensic DNA technology could help identify and reunite with their families the more than 200 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped by Islamist militants, scientists said on Tuesday. Software already exists to match missing people with their relatives, and it has been used worldwide to identify and return more than 740 children who were trafficked, some across international borders. Most of all, forensic scientists in the United States and Spain say they are ready to help, free of charge. All they need to get started are DNA samples from family members of the lost schoolgirls. We would do this absolutely for nothing, said Arthur Eisenberg, chairman of the department of molecular and medical genetics at the University of North Texas (UNT). This is clearly a humanitarian effort, said Eisenberg who heads the UNT Centre for Human Identification, the lab that works with an international programme called DNA-Prokids, which aims to reunite families and deter human trafficking. First, the … Continue reading →