Home sweet home

Picking the perfect place to live is important, especially if you’re a retrovirus.

Swimming in a sea of viruses

A new technique for sifting tiny viruses from seawater could help the hunt for human pathogens

Unpacking the genome

Every human cell contains more than two metres of twisted, tightly packed DNA, so switching on the right genes at the right time is a major challenge.

Deep freeze

A new freezing method, which can be used anywhere in the world, preserves single cells for scientific analysis.

Pass it on

Researchers have discovered an unusual epigenetic heirloom that can be passed down more than 14 generations.

Sorting it out

It’s your friend’s birthday and you want to send them a gift. You wrap it carefully, write their address on the outside, stick on a stamp and put it in the mail. Then, as if by magic, it arrives at their house a couple of days later.

OK Computer

A new ‘virtual computer’ makes biological data-crunching more reliable.