HS-LS3-2

Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from: (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.

  1. Genetics

    Wolf species shake-up

    A genetic study says red wolves and eastern wolves may really be mixtures of coyotes and gray wolves, not distinct species.

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  2. Animals

    The turning of wolves into dogs may have occurred twice

    The process of turning wolves into dogs, called domestication, may have occurred twice — in the East and the West — ancient DNA suggest.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Common plant could help fight Zika virus

    A teen discovered that extracts from leaves of the San Francisco plant (Codiaeum variegatum) kill larvae of the mosquito that helps spread the Zika and dengue fever viruses.

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  4. Genetics

    Genes: How few needed for life?

    Scientists rebuilt a microbe using its old genes. But not all of them. They used as few building-blocks as they could get away with and still have the life-form survive.

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  5. Chemistry

    Trio gets chemistry Nobel for figuring out DNA repair

    Three researchers have won the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry for working out how cells fix damaged genetic material.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Chikungunya wings its way north — on mosquitoes

    A mosquito-borne virus once found only in the tropics has adapted to survive in mosquitoes in cooler places, such as Europe and North America.

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  7. Brain

    Explainer: Sometimes the body mixes up male and female

    Certain medical conditions demonstrate how complicated biology can be. Being genetically male and female will not guarantee that your body won’t sometimes contain one or more features of both.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    New ways to fight the flu

    Influenza sickens millions each year. A worldwide epidemic could kill many of them. Fortunately, new ways to fight the flu offer hope — before it’s too late.

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  9. Environment

    Deep-sea fish show signs of exposure to pollution

    A new study suggests deep-water fish may have health problems linked to human pollution. Eating these fish may expose diners to the same pollution.

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  10. Agriculture

    Livestock: A need to save rare breeds

    New studies and ongoing work highlight why society should save rare livestock breeds — and the part that technology can play.

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  11. Brain

    Why boys face higher autism risk

    Boys develop autism at four times the rate seen in girls. Girls’ genes are better protected from the mutations linked to this brain disorder, data now suggest.

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  12. Life

    Caught in the act

    Scientists observe some evolutionary speed demons as they adapt over the course of just a few years to new environmental conditions.

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