Stem cells from adults can be "coaxed" into becoming more specified tissues and used effectively for specific treatments. Stem cells from embryos, however, involve the destruction of a human life and have not yet offered any useful treatments.

For 25 years, donkeys and zebras at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve have shared the same pasture while maintaining separate identities. When a donkey gave birth recently, zookeepers were surprised to see the baby "zedonk." Its head was donkey-like, but its legs displayed clear zebra stripes, meaning that a zebra stallion was the father.

To produce offspring, males and females contribute specialized reproductive cells called gametes--sperm cells from males and eggs from females. Most genes used to manufacture gametes differ from organism to organism. Scientists were surprised, therefore, by a recent study showing that, in spite of those differences, one gene in particular was present in all the animals surveyed.

Do plants think? They don't have brains or even neurons. But when scientists shined a light onto a leaf at the bottom of a plant, the entire plant "knew" how to react. Their studies uncovered evidence that plants not only have complex internal interactions, but that these are remarkably well-constructed to adapt for survival.

July 22, 2010, marked the 100th anniversary of genetic investigations using fruit flies.