What scientists once dismissed as junk DNA may actually be some of the most powerful code in our genome. A new international study reveals that ancient viral DNA buried in our genes plays an active ...

The last two decades have seen a revolution in scientists' ability to reconstruct the past. This has been made possible through technological advances in the way DNA is extracted from ancient bones ...

One person’s junk is another’s treasure. An international team of scientists have found that strings of “junk” DNA in the human genome that were previously written off as having no useful function are ...

Stem-cell models provide evidence that viral DNA sequences that entered the human genome in the past were repurposed to aid early stages of embryonic development. Sherif Khodeer is in the Department ...

The human genome is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes, the biological blueprints that make humans … well, human. But it turns out that some of our DNA — about 8% — are the remnants of ancient viruses ...

A new international study suggests that ancient viral DNA embedded in our genome, which were long dismissed as genetic "junk", may actually play powerful roles in regulating gene expression. Focusing ...

Gerlinde Bigga does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...