Labour’s persistent failure to address its electorate’s salient concerns is behind the protest vote, asserts DIANE ABBOTT
Latest editorial
DNA and the impossibility of research in isolation
Genetic engineering adapts tools evolved by nature for human use — but whose, ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL
Washington’s lawless behaviour towards countries in the region it considers its ‘back yard’ should be condemned by all law-abiding people, says LUKE DANIELS
In part I of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY takes a look at the early days of organising government workers
Colombia’s success in controlling the drug trade should be recognised and its sovereignty respected, argues Dr GLORY SAAVEDRA
The shadow lord chancellor has recently made a name for himself as an rabid hater of immigration – but there are exceptions to every rule, says SOLOMON HUGHES
Plaid Cymru’s front-bench spokesman on health and social services MABON AP GWYNFOR, in a two-part series, analyses the Caerphilly by-election and the wider political scene in Wales ahead of the 2026 Senedd election
THE double helix structure of DNA was discovered in 1953, but at the time the structure of genes themselves remained unknown. But the term “gene” had already been in use for decades as a convenient term for the mysterious basic unit of heredity.
Writing in 1911, the Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen referred to the term as “nothing but a very applicable little word, easily combined with others.” Once it was understood that genes were made of DNA, new questions opened up.
In the 1950s and onwards, the only organisms that could really be investigated in detail were microorganisms. As a result, almost all early molecular biology was done on bacteria and their viruses.
Similar stories
New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
A small Japanese trial has reported some positive results for stem cell therapy to treat spinal-cord injuries
Fraud in Alzheimer’s research raises difficult questions about the current state of science, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT