Kate Adamala had been working on something dangerous. At her synthetic biology lab, Adamala had been taking preliminary steps toward creating a living cell from scratch with one key twist: All the ...

Most major biological molecules, including all proteins, DNA and RNA, point in one direction or another. In other words, they are chiral, or handed. Like how your left glove fits only your left hand ...

For people with two hands, one is usually dominant. On a molecular level, life takes this to the extreme. All of the DNA in earthly living things... What are 'mirror cells' and why do some scientists ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Synthetic biology offers many tantalizing possibilities, but scientists consider some projects too risky to pursue.

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Kate Adamala, University of Minnesota (THE CONVERSATION) Most major biological ...