A routine experiment with a new single-cell DNA sequencing method turned into a surprising scientific twist when researchers stumbled upon a bizarre genetic code in a microscopic pond organism.

The gene-editing technology has led to innovations in medicine, evolution and agriculture — and raised profound ethical questions about altering human DNA. Credit...Mirko Ilić Supported by By Carl ...

In a giant feat of genetic engineering, scientists have created bacteria that make proteins in a radically different way than all natural species do. By Carl Zimmer At the heart of all life is a code.

"The very secrets of life — our DNA — is something that we can not only read these days, but we can write. We can rewrite it if we want to," Isaacson says. "It made me think that all of us should ...