Sarah Zhang
What Mormon Family Trees Tell Us About Cancer
By searching the church's famed family trees, scientists have tracked down a cancer-causing mutation that came west with a pioneer couple—just in time to save the lives of their great-great-great-great grandchildren.
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Pete Ryan What Life Is Like When Corn Is off the Table
Corn lurks in so many surprising places, from table salt to apples to IV bags.
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Peter Guttman / Getty Where Did the North Pole Go?
It’s moving, and the shutdown means that maps can’t be updated.
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Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Trump’s Most Trusted Adviser Is His Own Gut
The president’s glandular instinct has become a substitute for all expertise and all nuance.
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Christina Warinner Why a Medieval Woman Had Lapis Lazuli Hidden in Her Teeth
An analysis of dental plaque illuminates the forgotten history of female scribes.
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Seth Wenig / AP Why Mandarin Doesn’t Come From Chinese
The name of the world’s most spoken language has a surprising origin story.
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Ipsumpix / Corbis / Getty Images The Genetic Legacy of the Spanish Inquisition
As Spain simultaneously persecuted its Jews and expanded its colonies in the Americas, conversos secretly came over to the New World. Their legacy lives on in DNA.
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Natalija Kashuba What Chewed-Up Gum Reveals About Life in the Stone Age
Chewed tar is an unexpectedly great source of ancient DNA.
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Brian Snyder / Reuters What Happens When You’re Convinced You Have Bad Genes
DNA tests can have a placebo effect.
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Guislain / Internet Archive Showering Has a Dark, Violent History
In the 19th century, cold rinses and days-long baths became a way to treat—and control—psychiatric patients.
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Karl-Göran Sjögren An Ancient Case of the Plague Could Rewrite History
A 4,900-year-old skeleton has turned the accepted story of the disease on its head.
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Stephanie Rabemiafara / Art in All of Us ... 300 Million Letters of DNA Are Missing From the Human Genome
The world’s most famous genetic tool has a major diversity problem.
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Mark Schiefelbein / AP Chinese Scientists Are Outraged by Reports of Gene-Edited Babies
Researchers fear that the controversial study will be a stain on China’s scientific reputation.
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Vitoony35 / Shutterstock What Vets Think of ‘23andMe for Dogs’
More and more companies are selling DNA-test kits for pets.
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Tami Chappell How a Landlocked Aquarium Gets Its Seawater
In the 1930s, saltwater was shipped by rail. Since then, things have gotten more high-tech.
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You Should Be Worried About Your DNA Privacy
The increasing popularity of genetic tests poses concerns about the accessibility of personal information.
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Prostock-studio / Shutterstock / The Atlantic Facebook Groups as Therapy
People are sharing their deepest secrets on Facebook. Does the social network understand what it’s gotten into?
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Daniel Ramos Gonzalez Cities Are Turning Snails Yellow
Urban areas are heat islands. Could that be dictating the color of their gastropods?
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Brian Snyder / Reuters The First DNA Test as Political Stunt
“Who cares,” the president said about Senator Elizabeth Warren’s results.
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Work of Shelby Hall / Getty When a DNA Test Reveals Your Daughter Is Not Your Biological Child
A father reflects on an experience that is becoming more common.
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George Frey / Reuters Most People of European Ancestry Can Be Identified From a Relative’s DNA
Even people who have never taken a genetic test can be tracked down like the Golden State Killer suspect.
