Your DNA is continually damaged by sources both inside and outside your body. One especially severe form of damage called a double-strand break involves the severing of both strands of the DNA double ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of ...

To our immune system, a potentially lifesaving gene therapy can look a lot like a dangerous infection. That's because most genetic medicine uses viruses or double-stranded DNA to deliver genetic ...

Not all DNA looks like the familiar twisted ladder. Sometimes, parts of our genetic code fold into unusual shapes. One such structure, the G-quadruplex (G4), looks like a knot. These knots can play ...

Researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil have discovered that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, uses a sophisticated tactic to evade the human body's defense ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Francesca Storici consults at Tessera Therapeutics. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Your DNA is continually damaged by sources both ...

A study by the Federal University of São Paulo describes how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with the RNA of infected lung cells in an unprecedented way. The results may guide the search for new treatments and ...