These mutations—whether in blood, skin or brain —rack up even though the cell’s DNA-copying machinery is exceptionally accurate, and even though cells possess excellent repair mechanisms. Since the ...

You began when egg and sperm met, and the DNA from your biological parents teamed up. Your first cell began copying its newly melded genome and dividing to build a body. And almost immediately, ...

From the time we are conceived and through old age, genetic mutations accumulate in all our tissues, eluding the body’s typically efficient DNA repair machinery and potentially affecting our health ...

A vast mosaic of cells, some that are identical and some that are slightly different, make up the human body. Knowable Magazine You began when egg and sperm met, and the DNA from your biological ...