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09.24.09 News
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Breaking Story
Ratchet-like Genetic Mutations Make Evolution Irreversible
Researchers find that evolution can never go backwards, because the paths to the genes once present in our ancestors are forever blocked. The team used computational reconstruction of ancestral gene sequences, DNA synthesis, protein engineering and X-ray crystallography to resurrect and manipulate the gene for a key hormone receptor as it existed in our earliest vertebrate ancestors more than 400 million years ago. They found that over a rapid period of time, five random mutations made subtle modifications in the protein's structure that were utterly incompatible with the receptor's primordial form.
New in the Journals & Magazines
Nature
Nuclear Test Ban Back on the Table
Science
The Consequences of a Boozy Youth
New Scientist
Naked Mole Rats May Help Cure Cancer
Discover
Body Attacks Self; Body Protects Self
Popular Mechanics
4 People Who Faced Disaster--And How They Made it Out Alive
Today's Video
Self-Cleaning Counter Tops
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Latest News
Therapeutic Nanoparticles Give New Meaning to Sugar-Coating Medicine
Nanoparticles hold the promise of battling cancer without the damaging side effects of chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
High-School Student Discovers Strange Astronomical Object
A West Virginia high-school student analyzing data from a giant radio telescope has discovered a new astronomical object.
ALMA Telescope Reaches New Heights
The telescope will observe the Universe using light with millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, between infrared light and radio waves in the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Tribes Create Carbon Crops
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Today's Exclusive
Why Odd Egg-Laying Mammals Still Exist
Researchers find that evolution can never go backwards, because the paths to the genes once present in our ancestors are forever blocked. The team used computational reconstruction of ancestral gene sequences, DNA synthesis, protein engineering and X-ray crystallography to resurrect and manipulate the gene for a key hormone receptor as it existed in our earliest vertebrate ancestors more than 400 million years ago. They found that over a rapid period of time, five random mutations made subtle modifications in the protein's structure that were utterly incompatible with the receptor's primordial form.
