Glowing chemicals allow scientists to read DNA like a barcode

Watch how Sanger sequencing kickstarted the first generation of DNA sequencing

Sanger sequencing is a foundational DNA sequencing technology developed in 1977. The Nobel Prize-winning discovery uses fluorescent dyes at the end of DNA chains, which are sorted by length through electrophoresis, to determine the order of nucleotide bases.

Visualization of printing synthetic DNA

Ever wonder how synthetic DNA is made? Discover how GenScript uses innovative technology to synthesize precise, high-quality DNA at a larger scale than ever before.

Storing data in DNA requires converting binary code into DNA's four-base system

Researchers have suggested that DNA's ability to form compact, dense structures justifies investigating its use for long-term, safe data archiving. This system could fit all of the world's data in a single shoebox, though processing each bit into a nucleotide base takes 2 minutes, as of 2024.

How do you sequence a genome?

If the genome is made up of microscopic chromosomes, how do scientists actually sequence it? Here's a 5-minute video explaining one of the most common processes.

DNA may serve as a flame retardant by self-extinguishing some burning materials

When DNA burns, phosphate groups release phosphoric acid, and nitrogenous bases release ammonia. These molecules, along with the sugar in DNA's backbone, shift the combustion reaction toward the formation of intumescent char. This puffy, carbon-rich layer protects open flames from burning the material beneath.

Despite privacy risks, scientists are using DNA in the air to assess ecosystem health

While DNA in soil and water samples has long been used for such analyses, airborne DNA is being incorporated into such efforts to monitor individual species abundance, detect invasive species, measure biodiversity, and determine the success of conservation actions. Future work may include detecting attacks from biological weapons.

Cells translate genetic information into proteins using RNA messengers

Genes are segments of DNA, each composed of a sequence of nitrogenous bases. Within the nucleus, these sequences are copied into a single strand of ribonucleic acid during transcription. This strand leaves the nucleus and is translated by ribosomes into a chain of amino acids that folds into a functional protein.

Nitrogenous bases connect like puzzle pieces due to their shape

There are four bases—adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine—which keep the two strands of DNA connected via chemical bonds between them. Connections between thymine and adenine require two hydrogen bonds, while those between cytosine and guanine need three hydrogen bonds. These differences in bond number prevent non-complementary pairings.

Photo 51's distinct 'X' pattern and spacing provided data to validate DNA's model

Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling captured the photo after bombarding DNA fibers with X-rays and observing how the beams were deflected. The photo had a 62-hour exposure time and indicated a helical structure for DNA.

Ancestry testing matches DNA to known genetic variants found in specific ancestries

After a lab receives a person's sample, the DNA is separated into single strands, which are chemically cut into smaller fragments. The fragments are then fed into an array of variants of known origins, and technicians observe if a person's fragments bind to specific variants.

Think we decoded the genome in 2000? Nope. It was 2022.

Two decades after the draft sequence of the human genome was unveiled to great fanfare, a team of 99 scientists has finally deciphered the entire thing. They have filled in vast gaps and corrected a long list of errors in previous versions, giving us a new view of our DNA.

Bacteria helped scientists realize that DNA was the hereditary molecule, not proteins

Until the mid-1900s, most scientists believed genes were made of proteins, which were known to act as enzymes, hormones, and other chemicals that mediated an organism's traits. The Avery-MacLeod-McCarty and that benign bacteria could be made lethal, where the inherited factor that caused bacterial transformation contained DNA.

Bacteria have been genetically engineered to bioluminesce when wine has spoiled

Developed by researchers at Hebrew University, the method involves the firefly enzyme luciferase, which emits light from within bacteria expressing when they are in the presence of acetic acid vapors produced by wine. The process provides affordable, on-site, real-time monitoring of fermentation quality.

Watch DNA replicate itself before cell division

In the average adult human, between 50 billion and 70 billion cells die daily, requiring them to replicate their genetic instructions before dividing into new cells. This process relies on various proteins to unwind, read, build, and proofread new strands, with error rates of fewer than one per 1 billion nucleotides.

Glow sticks feed energy released in chemical reactions to fluorescent dyes

When bent, the glass tube inside the stick breaks, releasing hydrogen peroxide into the surrounding solution. The ensuing reaction creates unstable molecules that decompose and release energy, which is then absorbed by molecular dyes that emit light when their excited electrons return to lower energy states.

All publicly available DNA sequences are available at GenBank

The National Institutes of Health's database stores comprehensive, annotated DNA sequences as part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration. It encourages unrestricted data access within the scientific community while allowing submitters to retain intellectual property rights over their data.

The discovery of the first extremophile and how it revolutionized DNA analysis

While investigating samples taken from within and around the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park, microbiologist Thomas Brock discovered Thermus aquaticus, a microorganism that thrived in hot water. It contained an enzyme called Taq polymerase, a critical molecule in polymerase chain reaction—a molecular photocopier that amplifies genetic signals to improve medical diagnostics.

CRISPR-Cas9 enables precise genome editing using a simple RNA-guided system

Jennifer Doudna's research uncovered how bacteria use the tool as an immune defense by cutting viral DNA. She and Emmanuelle Charpentier received the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for showing how this mechanism could be engineered to target and edit genes in living cells.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

How helium greatly improves the efficiency of barcode-scanning lasers

Rather than directly energizing neon atoms, electrical discharge at lower, more practical power levels can excite helium atoms to energy levels nearly equal to those in neon atoms. Within a helium-neon laser, these gases are present in a 10-to-1 ratio, enabling helium to efficiently transfer energy to neon, which is then discharged as red light.

Homology-directed repair is the DNA repair method used by cells

Environmental factors like X-ray exposure may break a strand of DNA, but cells can use a sister strand to patch the damage. Scientists exploit this system by introducing custom DNA templates, which cells use instead to make repairs.

The secret lives of cells

Cutting-edge microscopy has revealed previously unseen interactions of biological molecules within their cellular environment, enabling scientists to observe and analyze the molecules in a holistic view. This podcast explains the minute advancements made over the last few decades in observing cells, revealing how scientists have come and what the future holds for the field.

Microchip fabricators create light by heating tin droplets to over 220,000 Kelvin

Every second, lasers strike 50,000 droplets moving at 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour, vaporizing the tin in supernova-like miniature explosions that produce ultraviolet light. Knowing this light will spread via diffraction as it passes through a filter during manufacturing, designers reverse-engineer the filter design based on the required final microchip pattern.

Single-cell organisms have circadian clocks that direct daily biochemical routines

Cyanobacteria, a type of light-sensitive bacteria, use this clock to signal when to alternate between making organic compounds through photosynthesis and when to convert atmospheric nitrogen into usable ammonia. Upregulating photosynthetic machinery before dawn helps ensure efficient photosynthesis.

Gamma Knife surgery uses incredibly precise, high-energy light to treat patients

A form of brain stereotactic radiosurgery, this non-invasive technology concentrates beams of light onto specific tumors to damage the DNA of malignant cells, killing them. The gamma rays used are in the same part of the electromagnetic spectrum as those produced in nuclear reactions, cosmic ray collisions, and radioactive decay.

Spectroscopy lets scientists analyze an object's light to determine its properties

By separating the light spectrum into its component wavelengths and comparing them to what is expected based on Earth-based experiments, we can determine an object's temperature, elemental and molecular composition, and motion through space.

Massive blooms of microscopic plankton called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.