Learn more about the DNA and RNA that sperm carry and how they may suddenly change during midlife.

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 ...

Ancient DNA has been pulled from a permafrost-preserved woolly mammoth found in Siberia, and scientists are thrilled. They ...

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 ...

Sunburn has traditionally been attributed to UV-induced DNA damage. However, a new study reveals that RNA, another vital cellular molecule, plays a major role in triggering acute sunburn reactions.

Scientists have sequenced RNA from a nearly 40,000-year-old woolly mammoth leg, the oldest ancient RNA ever recovered. These fragile molecules could reveal which genes were active in the animal’s ...