Molecular biology

In a monumental set of experiments, spread out over nearly two decades, biologists removed genes two at a time to uncover the secret workings of the cell.

Gene drives promise to spread a trait across an entire population. But evolutionary forces are going to alter even the best-engineered plans.

A new study reveals that individual genes can create many different versions of the molecular machinery that powers the cell.

Scientists have created a synthetic organism that possesses only the genes it needs to survive. But they have no idea what roughly a third of those genes do.

The biologist Sean B. Carroll rediscovers the scientific thrill of an unexpected revelation.