DNA

David Sinopoli was arrested Sunday and charged in the 1975 killing of Lindy Sue Biechler. Police used a discarded coffee cup to compare Sinopoli's DNA with another sample collected at the crime scene decades ago.

A discarded coffee cup may have just helped crack this decades-old murder case

7:23pm July 20, 2022

by Wynne Davis

David Sinopoli was charged Sunday in the 1975 killing of Lindy Sue Biechler. Investigators chased down leads for decades, but it wasn't until advanced DNA analysis was done that he became a suspect.

National

DNA from rape kits used to ID victims as suspects in crimes, San Francisco DA says

9:17pm February 14, 2022

by The Associated Press

DA says said one woman was recently arrested for a felony property crime based on her DNA collected years ago during a domestic violence-involved rape examination.

A poster of Marise Ann Chiverella is displayed with a vase of flowers and a trooper's hat at a Pennsylvania State Police news conference in Hazleton, Pa., on Thursday.

Police solve 1964 rape and murder of girl with help of DNA and a student

10:02pm February 10, 2022

by The Associated Press

New technology and the help of a volunteer college student help solve what is believed to be the fourth-oldest cold case in the U.S. using genetic genealogy.

Researchers were able to detect DNA from elephants at the Copenhagen Zoo simply by sampling the air nearby.

Scientists vacuum zoo animals' DNA out of the air

7:00am January 09, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

Researchers who detected that detecting environmental DNA, or eDNA, in two zoos say the technique could one day be used to look for endangered species in remote locations in the wild.

Many at-home DNA ancestry testing kits require participants to mail in a sample of saliva.

National

The Census Has Revealed A More Multiracial U.S. One Reason? Cheaper DNA Tests

5:00am August 28, 2021

by Hansi Lo Wang

Genetic ancestry tests, changes to how census responses were categorized and more children born to parents who identify with different racial groups led to a 276% jump in the multiracial population.

A reconstruction drawing of the Suontaka grave from 1,000 years ago and that is now thought to be the final resting place of a nonbinary warrior.

Science

1,000-Year-Old Remains May Be Of A Highly Respected Nonbinary Warrior, Study Finds

7:07pm August 09, 2021

by Xcaret Nuñez

Researchers using DNA analysis say a body buried in feminine clothing and with a sword was neither strictly male or female. The grave shows the high status of some nonbinary people in their community.

An artist's rendering of DNA. Scientists have found traces of DNA that they say is evidence that prehistoric humans procreated with an unknown hominin group in West Africa.

'Ghost' DNA In West Africans Complicates Story Of Human Origins

4:51pm February 12, 2020

by Merrit Kennedy

Modern genomes from Nigeria and Sierra Leone show signals that scientists call "ghost" DNA — from an unknown human ancestor. That means that prehistoric humans likely procreated with an unknown group.

Paul McKay, a molecular immunologist at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London, checks a dish of bacteria containing genetic material from the new coronavirus. He and his team are testing a candidate vaccine.

Timetable For A Vaccine Against The New Coronavirus? Maybe This Fall

1:46pm February 12, 2020

by Joe Palca

Recent advances in biotech make scientists optimistic that they might have a vaccine that has passed basic tests of human safety and efficacy ready to go to clinics as soon as this fall.

The impeachment proceedings against President Trump have featured testimony by U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland on a key cellphone conversation with Trump regarding Ukraine. Sondland is seen here being sworn in last month.

Politics & Government

Presidential Impeachments Mirror Technological Advances; This Time, It's Smartphones

4:45pm December 18, 2019

by David Welna

Each of the United States' four presidential impeachment proceedings has highlighted increasingly sophisticated technologies, beginning with telegrams in the case against Andrew Johnson.

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An employee of the Boston biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks runs a gene sequencing machine through its paces. The company synthesizes thousands of genes a month, which are then inserted into cells that become mini factories of useful products.

As Made-To-Order DNA Gets Cheaper, Keeping It Out Of The Wrong Hands Gets Harder

1:30pm September 24, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Labs are churning out more and more synthetic DNA for scientists who want to use it to reprogram cells. Some say the technology has outpaced government safety guidelines put in place a decade ago.

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