In the American Civil War, the United States fought itself in a bloody struggle that dragged on for four years. A new study out of the University of California, Santa Cruz shines light on an even longer – and seemingly endless – conflict within ourselves. This internal struggle takes place within our genome, between an…
I could learn a lot from my spit if I wanted to. Thanks to advances in DNA sequencing, I could send my spit off for personal genomic testing and find out my predicted risks for hundreds of diseases and conditions. But I haven’t. After years of studying the genetics of plants, I’m fascinated by the…
Four years ago, honeymooning in Big Sur, my husband and I stumbled onto an overwintering site for monarch butterflies. Monarchs arrive at pine and eucalyptus groves up and down California’s coast this time of year after migrating hundreds of miles. On a hike in Andrew Molera State Park, we noticed a couple of monarchs perched…
