Tag Archives: genetics

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. For a molecule of RNA, the world is a dangerous place. Unlike DNA, which can persist for millions of years in its remarkably stable, double-stranded form, RNA isn’t built to last—not even within the cell that made it. Unless it’s …

By the time Louise Tilley got to the blood sample, it had already been puzzling scientists for more than 30 years. In 1972, a pregnant woman had her blood taken, and doctors noticed that her red blood cells seemed to lack a surface marker, known as an antigen, that everyone …

Last year, startup Pairwise started selling the first food in the US made with Crispr technology: a new type of mustard greens with an adjusted flavor. But chances are, most consumers never got to sample them. The company introduced the greens to the food service industry—select restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, retirement …

On a recent trip to Giant Eagle, my local grocery store in Pittsburgh, I noticed something new in the fruit section: a single pineapple packaged in a pink and forest-green box. A picture on the front showed the pineapple cut open, revealing rose-colored flesh. Touted as the “jewel of the …

The White House has issued new rules aimed at companies that manufacture synthetic DNA after years of warnings that a pathogen made with mail-order genetic material could accidentally or intentionally spark the next pandemic. The rules, released on April 29, are the result of an executive order signed by President …

God help the babies! Or, absent God, a fertility startup called Orchid. It offers prospective parents a fantastical choice: Have a regular baby or have an Orchid baby. A regular baby might grow up and get cancer. Or be born with a severe intellectual disability. Or go blind. Or become …

In one way or another, the superrich have always been trying to extend their lives. Ancient Egyptians crammed their tombs with everything they’d need to live on in an afterlife not unlike their own world, just filled with more fun. In the modern era, the ultra-wealthy have attempted to live …

At the end of 2023, we witnessed an important moment in the history of medicine: For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a therapy that uses Crispr gene editing. This new therapy was developed by Crispr Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals to treat sickle cell disease, an …

Jimi Olaghere used to end up in the emergency room so often that the hospital reserved a bed for him. Sickle cell disease dominated his life. A genetic defect he was born with meant that instead of having flexible, round red blood cells like most people do, his were sticky …

Dr. Alison Todd describes herself as an “inventor at heart,” but she’s not the sort of inventor who tinkers with gears in a workshop. Instead, she invents new tools in medical diagnostics, developing better ways to identify gene sequences and how they impact disease. Rather than screwdrivers and hammers, her …