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All living things contain DNA. It’s the stuff that tells cells how to grow and function! In this activity, you can have a go at extracting DNA from fruits around your house.

Forget blue whales, redwood trees and aspen groves. There’s a new biggest organism in town. It’s a huge patch of seagrass, the size of about 20,000 rugby fields. And it’s been hiding in plain sight in Shark Bay, at the western tip of Western Australia!

Here’s a fun, creative project that will help you explore some of the science around the virus SARS-CoV-2. That’s the virus that causes the disease COVID-19. We’re going to make a bracelet using the genetic sequence of the virus!

As part of the media coverage of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we thought it was important to explain the situation for young readers. Here’s a chance to get your head around the biology from the basics.

Written by Mike McRae Your pets might like a good scratch, but new research suggests your beloved pot plants might not be so fond of having their fronds fondled.

Inside most cells in your body, there’s a copy of your entire genetic code. It contains instructions that help build and maintain your body. If you imagine DNA in its double helix form, it’s a beautiful, perfect package. Except, maybe DNA doesn’t always look so perfect after all.

The rocks beneath your feet tell an amazing story. Back when dinosaurs roamed the land, all the continents of Earth were joined together in a supercontinent we call Pangaea. But it wasn’t to last. About 180 million years ago, Pangaea started to split apart – first into two, and then into smaller and smaller pieces.

Spare a thought for taxonomists. Their job is to separate life into groups, from the great kingdoms of plants to animals, all the way down to individual species. Sometimes they have an easy job. For example, brown bears are easy to distinguish from polar bears. Other times, the differences are harder to find

It takes a lot of information to make a human. It’s kept in our cells as DNA, which contains at least 20 000 genes. Some other forms of life can get by with much less DNA and fewer genes. Now one team of scientists think they’re close to making the simplest living thing possible.

Hidden within our cells, DNA is the hard drive of the human body. Each copy of DNA contains instructions for all the proteins needed to make a person. But this creative compendium is always under attack. This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to three people who found out what’s repairing our genetic treasure.