How epigenetics blurs the line between nature and nurture

Nature versus nurture: Are you the result of your genes or your environment?

Dr. Nancy Segal breaks down how research on twins has revealed just how much our genes influence our behavior and traits—but insists they aren't everything. Catch up on the latest in the nature versus nurture debate.

Move over gene editing, scientists can edit your epigenome

Instead of deleting genes, epigenetic editing modulates their activity. A new paper tests if it’s able to undo a genetic effect of early alcohol exposure.

The history of the gene: an interactive timeline

Humans didn’t need modern technology to figure out that kids tend to look like their parents. But what did humans believe about genetics before we knew about DNA or cells in general? Explore this interactive timeline to see how philosophers and scientists throughout the ages tried to explain how traits are passed from generation to generation.

Here’s how different genetic disorders get passed on

The human genome is complex, as identified by the Human Genome Project. This article digs in to genetic disorders, the most common ones, and how they are diagnosed.

Researchers are exploring neural links between Alzheimer's and autism

Recent DNA sequencing and molecular biology studies suggest that similarities in genes, neural circuitry and patterns of disease warrant further exploration to potentially better understand both conditions and how to treat them. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Epigenetic editing—altering gene expression by removing or adding chemical groups on DNA—is making significant strides in the lab, even lowering cholesterol in monkey experiments by about 70%. (Free w/email.)

The promises and perils of using at-home genetic tests for your health

A primer on genetic testing, personalized medicine, and the promise of pharmacogenomics–the use of genetics to predict an individual's response to a drug.

Genetic engineering will change everything forever

Designer babies, the end of diseases, genetically modified humans that never age. Outrageous things that used to be science fiction are suddenly becoming reality. As scientists increasingly understand how specific genes cause disease, the possibility of engineering our genes to not only "fix" problems but enhance our natural ability grows.

Sex determination isn't all XX and XY

We're generally taught that chromosomes determine an animal's sex, but it is way more nuanced than that. Watch this 12-minute video to find out how.

Exercise can change your genes without changing your DNA.

The science of dogs, from wolf origins to color-blindness

This under 10-minute podcast episode dives into the rich, fascinating science behind dogs: From their world-class sense of smell to their domestication from wolves.

Is synbio really cool, really scary, or both?

There's always been a divide between technology, the inanimate stuff that we build, and biology, the living stuff that nature builds. Synthetic biologists are trying to figure out how to close the gap by building living things.

Fruit fly experiments show personality emerges, in part, from genetic factors

A 2025 study revealed that fruit flies exhibit unique behavioral preferences, akin to personalities, which could be artificially selected for when breeding to modify behavioral variability. This variability can be adaptive in unpredictable environments.

How do genetics work?

Perhaps you have your mother’s hair or your grandfather’s eyes. How did you get these traits and not others? Learn how genetics work in this online video game.

A deeper (nontechnical) dive into how CRISPR works

Extra crispy? No, it's CRISPR, but this gene-editing technology is "extra" in the sense of being momentous and destined to change everything. Through CRISPR, scientist exploit a quirk in bacteria immune systems, allowing them to potentially, and quickly, control genes, remove undesirable traits, and add preferred ones. The possibilities and applications are endless.

'Endoevolution' refers to the Darwinian selection happening continually inside us

The term, coined by Roxanne Khamsi in her 2026 book "Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health" describes the idea that evolution does not just occur across generations of humans. Instead, mutated cells continuously compete with healthy ones in our bodies, with implications for our tissues and health. Khamsi says these autocorrections are essentially natural gene therapy. 

Explaining CRISPR at five levels of technical detail

CRISPR is a new area of biomedical science that enables gene editing and could be the key to eventually curing diseases like autism or cancer. WIRED challenges biologist Neville Sanjana to explain this concept to 5 different people; a 7-year-old, a 14-year-old, a college student, a grad student and a CRISPR expert.

How we frame stress—as good or bad—seems to alter how it affects us

This podcast discusses research that indicates stress perception may drastically affect how we respond to it. In research exploring if our stress is presented as diminishing our health versus if we're told it enhances our performance, it will lead to differences in how successful participants are at performing tasks—with the enhancers doing better.

What's with the teen brain, anyway

In this video NIDA explores the intriguing similarities between the processes of brain development and computer programming. This analogy helps us understand why toxic environmental factors like drugs, bullying, or lack of sleep strongly affect a teenager's life The information provided by this video can empower your children or students with information they need make better decisions.

See how a novel gene editing technique called base editing can create changes in a single DNA base, using a more precise targeting approach than CRISPR-Cas9.

A student researcher working on the Human Genome Project shares their perspective

In a conversation with Ewan Birney, Director of the European Bio-informatics Institute, he discusses what it was like to be a PhD student working on the Human Genome Project in the months before the draft announcement and its impact on him and the field of genetics.

A fascinating look at how our DNA is built and replicated

This easy-to-understand 13-minute video dives into the wondrous molecule deoxyribonucleic acid – also known as DNA – and explains how it replicates itself in our cells.

Neural implants blur the line between personal intention and machine execution

A key ethical dilemma—the contemplation conundrum—explores whether implants might misinterpret mere imagination as intent to act. Neuroscientists have found no brain signal that clearly marks when someone decides to act, making intent hard to detect in neurotechnological systems.

Autoimmune disease prevalence and incidence are on the rise—but no one knows why

Researchers theorize that environmental factors, including shifts to less healthy diets, air pollution, infections, stress, climate change, and exposures to xenobiotics—substances like pesticides, plastics, and toxins that incite immune responses—may all be fueling epigenetic changes to our bodies that make people's immune responses go awry.

Can the gut microbiome drive addiction?

New research suggests an imbalance of gut microorganisms may influence the likelihood of addiction and addictive behaviors by increasing the severity of withdrawal symptoms, triggering brain inflammation in regions of impulse control, and more.

What is genetics?

What is a genome, and how are traits passed from generation to generation? Learn how pea plants helped launch the study of genetics and how the field of genetics research has evolved over time.

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.

Before Dawkins, other biologists proposed the power of mutating ideas

Nobel Prize winner Jacques Monod proposed, “Ideas have retained some of the properties of organisms. Like them, they tend to perpetuate their structure and to breed; they too can fuse, recombine, segregate their content; indeed they too can evolve, and in this evolution selection must surely play an important role.”

Genetic tests aren't always actionable, which is one reason genetic counselors are so vital

This podcast interview with a Harvard Medical School professor focused on cancer genetics and prevention discusses the specifics of genetic testing and insights and the challenges of processing the outcomes of the testing and what may be actionable—or not.

Gut bacteria are evolving and can acquire as many as 100 new genes per year, on average.

Genetics play a role in the reliability of the body's biological clocks

Growing evidence suggests genetics influence when, how long, and how well one sleeps, meaning insomnia may have a genetic component. While exact insomnia biomarkers have yet to be determined, some genes, including those related to psychiatric disorders, have been implicated.

Even if you have some ASD-linked gene variations you may not develop ASD

Individual environment and life experiences affect how genes perform in the body, potentially adding methyl groups to DNA that affect their function and turning genes on and off—which may heighten or reduce disease risk.

Anthropic's interpretability team discusses how AI models' thinking mimics biology

Just as humans engage in complex behaviors to survive and reproduce, teams of experts in neuroscience, virology, mathematics, and other disciplines argue that large language models develop complex mechanisms to achieve their goals. These mechanisms can be manipulated to assess how they modify outputs—much like stimulating individual neurons—to uncover how LLMs "think."

Modern conveniences may be contributing to allergy increases

A combination of genetics and how the environment changes our genes are likely contributing to the rise in allergies. But daily conveniences, such as dishwashers and packaged baby food, also change the level of bacterial exposures in early life, with potential implications for allergy development, experts from Mount Sinai Health System state in this video discussion.

Listen to how the gut microbiome influences your emotions

The gut-microbiome connection may involve the enteric nervous system, a collection of hundreds of millions of neurons throughout the gut that transmit signals up the vagus nerve to the brain.

Challenges for synthetic biology

Can engineering approaches tame the complexity and unpredictability of living systems? An exploration of five challenges for the field and how they might be resolved.

Drs. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier discuss CRISPR

Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier's were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for research focused on understanding and adapting the CRISPR-Cas9 system to precisely edit DNA sequences in other organisms. Doudna has indicated that the system can potentially treat genetic forms of blindness and high cholesterol.

Imagining how genetics works in 'Harry Potter' and how muggle-born Hermione is a witch

Dr. Robert Pyatt, director of Sanford Health’s medical genetics lab, talks through real-world genetics scenarios in the Harry Potter series, from the Weasley's red hair and freckles to why Hermione, a witch, could be born to "muggle"—or nonmagical—parents.

The debate on why humans are conscious—and what that means

Understanding what consciousness is, and why and how it evolved, is perhaps the greatest mystery known to science. Watch interviews with the world's leading experts on what it is and whether we'll ever know.

See a timeline of landmark discoveries in the field of genetics to gain a better understanding of more than a century of advances.

See how the gut and the brain communicate through a bundle of nerves running from the brain to the digestive tract, serving as both a physical and chemical link.

Science is rarely a linear progression of understanding

Particularly at the frontiers, investigations conducted based on established knowledge can provide unexpected results. This opens the door to revising existing models, inspiring new lines of research, and ultimately leading to better future comprehension. For instance, experiments on the speed of light and the expansion of the universe yielded then-confusing data that led to revolutionary insights.

Psychedelics set off a flurry of brain activity that may permanently alter it

The brain seems to experience a sharp increase in communication between areas that generally don't interact. New research suggests a thin, sheet-like gray matter structure tucked deep within the brain, between the insular cortex and striatum, may be the key to this change. The area is centrally located and home to many of the receptors that psychedelics target, potentially rewiring the brain and rewriting thought patterns.

Gene expression patterns are similar between ASD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder

Postmortem brain tissue analysis suggests there are genetic and epigenetic similarities between individuals with autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. All three conditions appeared to have activation of genes in astrocytes and suppression of specific genes that function at the junction between neurons, called synapses. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Silicon Valley startups Orchid, Nucleus, and Genomic Prediction are selling so-called polygenic tests for prospective parents

These tests claim to show how at-risk a hypothetical baby would be for genetic syndromes. The newfound industry has prompted ethical and medical debates, with critics questioning their accuracy and highlighting the potential problems behind pursuing the perfect baby.

The reason some people love exercise may be because of their microbiome

Certain gut microbes in mice trigger dopamine release and drive motivation to exercise more. Scientists are investigating whether humans carry similar microbial patterns that influence our natural inclination towards movement, exploring how unseen microbial ecosystems may shape mammalian fitness behavior and reinforce innate reward pathways. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The free will versus determinism debate: major thinkers weigh in

Do we have free will in our actions or are we totally determined? An all-star cast of contemporary thinkers share insights on the crucial debate.

Synthetic biology transforms cells into custom DNA foundries

At companies like Ginkgo Bioworks, researchers are reprogramming cells to act as workshops that can create custom molecules, such as medicines and fertilizers, by stitching together DNA sequences—often in novel combinations—before inserting them into an organism's genome.

Climate determinism wrongly linked human traits and societal progress to geography

Historically rooted in Greek philosophy, its ideas used the latitudes where people were located to justify racial hierarchies, casting tropical peoples as lazy or inferior. These biases still influence how media and research portray people in climatically disadvantaged regions. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Like fingerprints, brain anatomy is unique too

Researchers have discovered that a combination of experiences and genetic factors shape the anatomy of the human brain. They found even quick experiences affect the brain’s genetic makeup, which—over time—means every person develops a completely unique brain anatomy. While brain imaging could be used to identify individuals, it remains much more expensive than fingerprinting for now. Read to found out more about this study from the University of Zurich.