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Dogs and wolves are closely related, but their differences define them. Unlike its wild relations, a dog can read a person’s face and tone of voice, and it is curious, social, and unafraid around humans. New genetic research highlights the importance of another crucial but subtler distinction between the two species: while wolves are exclusively carnivores, dogs can digest starches. This evolutionary change may be one of the critical steps that brought dogs out of the wilderness and into our homes.

The ӳý today announced that renowned business leader Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. will become the next chairman of the ӳý’s Board of Directors. Mr. Gerstner served as CEO and chairman of the board of IBM Corporation from 1993 to 2002. He is widely recognized as the chief architect of the company’s transformation, reinventing both its organization and its culture.

Mr. Gerstner succeeds outgoing ӳý chair Diana Chapman Walsh, who will continue to serve on the board, assuming the role of vice chair.

Many of the most remarkable tools in genome engineering have humble beginnings. This week, ӳý core member Feng Zhang and his colleagues from MIT and Rockefeller University on one of the newest additions to the growing list of genome editing technologies. Known as CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) systems,

In September 2012, the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project Consortium, a multi-institution collaboration that included the ӳý, capped off nine years of research with a flurry of papers that characterized proteins, enzymes, and other functional elements of the human genome. These elements, which were once dismissed as “junk DNA” because they were not among the protein-coding genes, are now thought to fulfill key functions, often regulating how and when genes are activated.

This week, Mitch Guttman — one of the ӳý’s first generation of “alumni” — was named to the Forbes "" list of rising stars. This accolade comes on the heels of another prestigious honor for Guttman, who received an NIH in the fall.