James Watson Saw the True Form of DNA. Then It Blinded Him.

James Watson’s legacy is a cautionary tale against letting a profound discovery shape your entire worldview.

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The DNA Helix Changed How We Thought About Ourselves

“The laws of inheritance are quite unknown,” Charles Darwin acknowledged in 1859. The discovery of DNA’s shape altered how we conceived of life itself.

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James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97

His decoding the blueprint for life with Francis H.C. Crick made him one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. He wrote a celebrated memoir and later ignited an uproar with racist views.

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Arrests in Louvre Heist Show Power of DNA Databases in Solving Crimes

France’s trove of DNA profiles has helped solve high-profile crimes and was used to find some of the Louvre suspects, and it is growing. The police can also access other countries’ databases.

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DNA Identifies 2 Bacterial Killers That Stalked Napoleon’s Army

Genetic material pulled from 13 teeth found in a grave in Lithuania revealed infectious diseases that felled the French emperor’s troops as they withdrew from Russia.

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Georgia Man Charged With Raping Women in Queens in the 1990s

New DNA testing linked Michael Benjamin, 57, to the assaults of five women between 1995 and 1997 in southeast Queens, according to the authorities.

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Nassau Police Charge Man With Raping and Killing Teenager in 1984

Theresa Fusco was left in the woods near the roller rink where she had worked. Three men were wrongly convicted, but authorities said they now have the real culprit.

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Toronto’s Subway Deer Enigma Unmasked With DNA Analysis

It took nearly 50 years to work out the identity of a caribou-like fossil first discovered by construction workers.

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Retrial in 1993 Buffalo Murder Case Ends With a Deadlocked Jury

Brian Scott Lorenz’s conviction in the strangling of Deborah Meindl in a Buffalo suburb was overturned in 2023, but prosecutors had forged ahead with a new trial.

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Shell Casings and DNA on Fingernails Helped Crack ‘Yogurt Shop’ Murder Case

Old-fashioned detective work and advances in forensic science led to the identification of a suspect in the killings of four teenagers in Austin, Texas, in 1991, officials said.

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