I created an interactive map of genetic similarity between populations, based on the Moriopoulos Collection 2025 ( https://genarchivist.net/showthread.php?tid=1449 ). Each data point is a 25-dimensional representation (Global25), and I use Euclidean distance. There is already https://genetic-distance.com/ , where you can look at the closest populations as a table. The vis should come with many caveats. One is that it is based on the data (and their quality) that is there, which does not cover all populations. Second, the localization of groups is done via LLMs (Claude), and one of the limitat…

#hackernews #showhn #projects #map #distance #genetic #populations #based

Researchers at UC San Diego have demonstrated that a key cellular enzyme can accurately read an eight-letter genetic alphabet, doubling the four letters used by all known life on Earth. Detailed imaging revealed that RNA polymerase handles synthetic DNA letters in surprisingly similar ways to natural ones. The finding brings scientists closer to building expanded genetic systems that could perform entirely new biological functions.

#science #research #letters #dna #life #scientists #genetic