Scientists have engineered a hybrid mouse with a gene that predates all animal life. The team replaced a single gene in the mouse stem cells with a version from an ancient, single-celled ancestor, and ...

The creation of a woolly-mouse embryo marks a significant leap in the field of de-extinction, bringing us one step closer to reviving the iconic woolly mammoth. By combining advanced gene-editing ...

Over half of our genomes consists of thousands of remnants of ancient viral DNA, known as transposable elements, which are widespread across the tree of life. Once dismissed as the "dark side" of the ...

A stretch of viral DNA in the mouse genome gives cells in early-stage embryos the potential to become almost any cell type in the body.

It’s challenging to sustain a pregnancy when food is short, or conditions are otherwise tough. That’s why many mammalian embryos can postpone their growth to get through periods of environmental ...

Descriptions of the embryo go back at least to the time of Aristotle, but it has only been since the late 19 th century and early 20 th century that advances in experimental approaches allowed ...