Scientists on their quest to find the origin of life have stared into the primordial soup, trying to answer the ultimate chicken-and-egg question: Which came first, the genetic code or the proteins ...

A chemical system of synthetic replicators showing the first signs of Darwinian evolution: two different replicators compete for a common building block, and which one wins depends on the environment.

Researchers have identified a molecular brake that limits DNA replication in healthy cells, revealing how cells prevent a long-suspected replication catastrophe and pointing to a potential ...

DNA, which has a double-helix structure, can have many genetic mutations and variations. Credit: NIH When cells in the human body divide, they must first make accurate copies of their DNA. The DNA ...

Every time a cell divides, it must copy its entire genome so that each daughter cell inherits a complete set of DNA. During that process, enzymes known as polymerases race along the DNA to copy its ...