The first genome-wide search for genes governing social behavior has found that even the simplest social creatures -- the amoebae Dictyostelium discoideum -- have more than 100 genes that help regulate their cooperative behavior.

Researchers at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine (IGM) at Johns Hopkins will join other national and international scientists in the 1000 Genomes Project, an ambitious effort that will involve sequencing the genomes of numerous people from around the world to create the most detailed and medically useful picture to date of human genetic variation.

A very common gene can help explain why breastfed babies tend to grow up to be more intelligent than those raised exclusively on bottled milk.

An Australian genetic scientist has discovered two new genes that cause a form of arthritis that affects 22,000 Australians.

Scientists say they have discovered a gene responsible for increasing a person's likelihood of contracting type 1 diabetes.

Researchers say they have transferred the entire genetic material of one microbe into another one, producing a genetic carbon copy. VOA's Jessica Berman reports from Washington that researchers hope the work might eventually lead to the development of synthetic fuels.