Scientists have developed and tested a “DNA robot” that delivers payloads such as drug molecules to specific cells.

The container was made using a method called “DNA origami”, in which long DNA chains are folded in a prescribed way.

Then, so-called aptamers - which can recognise specific cell types - were used to lock the barrel-shaped robot.

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Researchers have now been able to sequence the entire Denisova genome using 10 milligram of a finger bone fragment that was found in the Denisova-Cave in Southern Sibiria. © MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology

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Remember in Jurassic Park when they got dinosaur DNA from an ancient mosquito’s stomach? Well, if they had been interested in dinosaur proteins, they only had to look at a dinosaur bone. 

Dinosaur bones are at least 65 million years old. And all of the meat has turned to stone. Over this amount of time and with this much abuse, scientists thought no DNA or proteins could survive. They were wrong. 

Recently, scientists were able to pull proteins out of a T. rex bone. Now they have done some additional work that suggests dinosaurs are closely related to birds. It is amazing that our technology has become so sensitive that we can examine dinosaur proteins.

Video describing the basic principles of epigentics. 

The industrious but unlovely naked mole rat is the latest creature to have its genome sequenced by scientists.

A genetic blueprint for this bizarre-looking rodent could help researchers understand why it is so long-lived.

Naked mole rats are also of interest to scientists because they appear to have some resistance to cancer.

A team from the University of Liverpool, UK, led the project and have made the “first draft” of the genome available online for other researchers.

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A mother’s diet during pregnancy can alter the DNA of her child and increase the risk of obesity, according to researchers.

The study, to be published in the journal Diabetes, showed that eating low levels of carbohydrate changed bits of DNA.

It then showed children with these changes were fatter.

The British Heart Foundation called for better nutritional and lifestyle support for women.

It is thought that a developing baby tries to predict the environment it will be born into, taking cues from its mother and adjusting its DNA.

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Genetic tests for conditions that can be passed on to future generations should be more widely available before pregnancy, says the government’s advisory body on genetics.

There are “no specific social, ethical or legal principles” against preconception screening, a Human Genetics Commission report has ruled.

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The man who invented DNA fingerprinting has now identified a key gene driving human genetic variation.

Although humans share 99.5 per cent of their DNA with each other, the remaining unshared half a per cent is what makes us all genetically and physically different.