ScienceCells, genes, evolution, and the systems that make life possible.
19 articlesViruses are not alive in the way biologists define life, but they are not dead either. They occupy a gray zone: a virus outside a host cell is an inert particle, called a virion, with no metabolism, no growth, and no response to stimuli.
Let's find outAs of November 2026, no commercial probiotic in the United States or European Union contains live Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, and none has been approved as a drug or supplement ingredient.
Let's find outNo. No stem cell treatment approved anywhere in the world is manufactured from aborted fetuses, and the vaccine and cell lines most often named in this debate trace to two elective terminations performed in 1962 and 1973—not to ongoing…
Let's find outSeedless watermelons are not genetically modified in the sense most people mean.
Let's find outNo, horses and donkeys are not the same species. A horse (Equus ferus caballus) carries 64 chromosomes; a donkey (Equus africanus asinus) carries 62.
Let's find outYes, gametes are haploid: a mature human egg or sperm carries one complete set of 23 chromosomes, half the 46 found in a somatic cell.
Let's find outFilipinos are classified as Asian, not Pacific Islander, under every major racial and ethnic taxonomy used in the United States and internationally.
Let's find outYes, chickens are considered dinosaurs by modern evolutionary biology, because birds are the only surviving lineage of theropod dinosaurs.
Let's find outNo, blue eyes are not dominant. Blue eye color is recessive, meaning a child needs two copies of the low-melanin version of the OCA2 regulatory region — one from each parent — to end up with blue irises.
Let's find outAutoimmune diseases are partly genetic but never purely inherited.
Let's find outYes, humans are still evolving today, and the evidence is measurable in real time. Natural selection has not stopped; it has changed direction and speed.
Let's find outHazel eyes are neither simply dominant nor simply recessive. The trait is polygenic, meaning at least 16 genes shape iris color, and hazel sits on a continuous spectrum rather than in a two-box dominant-recessive system.
Let's find outYes, chromosomes are present in cells during interphase, but they do not look like the compact X-shaped structures seen in textbook diagrams.
Let's find outAre cleft chins rare? A true cleft chin, a visible Y-shaped groove in the chin bone and overlying soft tissue, appears in roughly 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 people depending on the population studied, so it is uncommon but not rare.
Let's find outDigital dentures are better than traditional ones for most patients on fit consistency, number of office visits, and repairability, but not universally better on cost, same-day speed, or the look of a hand-layered prosthesis.
Let's find outAn all breed pedigree is a documented ancestry record maintained by a registry that accepts multiple breeds rather than one, and it traces a dog's lineage through registered sires and dams, typically across three to five generations.
Let's find outAICAR (5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide) is a cell-permeable nucleotide analog that enters cells and is phosphorylated to ZMP, a mimic of AMP.
Let's find outGenetic connective tissue disorders are a group of inherited conditions caused by pathogenic variants in genes that build or regulate collagen, elastin, fibrillin, and related extracellular matrix proteins.
Let's find outThe BioMarin pipeline for rare disease drugs is a portfolio of roughly a dozen clinical and near-market programs built on four technology platforms: enzyme replacement for lysosomal storage disorders, antisense oligonucleotides for central…
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