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Jonathan Lambert

Contributing Writer

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Latest Articles

Cichlid fish of diverse colors and shapes swim together.
evolution

New Hybrid Species Remix Old Genes Creatively

By Jonathan Lambert
September 10, 2019
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Clues from fish diversity suggest that interbreeding between species could be a major mechanism of fast speciation.

Art for "Rapid Oxygen Changes Fueled an Explosion in Ancient Animal Diversity"
Abstractions blog

Rapid Oxygen Changes Fueled an Explosion in Ancient Animal Diversity

By Jonathan Lambert
May 9, 2019
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Skyrocketing animal diversity a half-billion years ago was linked to spikes and dips in marine oxygen levels, according to a detailed geological study.

Art for "Scientists Discover Nearly 200,000 Kinds of Ocean Viruses"
Abstractions blog

Scientists Discover Nearly 200,000 Kinds of Ocean Viruses

By Jonathan Lambert
April 25, 2019
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New work raises the estimated diversity of viruses in the seas more than twelvefold and lays the groundwork for a better understanding of their impact on global nutrient cycles.

Abstractions blog

Jellyfish Genome Hints That Complexity Isn’t Genetically Complex

By Jonathan Lambert
January 8, 2019
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Jellyfish didn’t need novel genes to take an evolutionary leap in complexity.

Abstractions blog

Ancient Turing Pattern Builds Feathers, Hair — and Now, Shark Skin

By Jonathan Lambert
January 2, 2019
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A primordial developmental toolkit shared by all vertebrates, and described by a theory of the mathematician Alan Turing, sets the growth pattern for all types of skin structures.

Abstractions blog

What a Newfound Kingdom Means for the Tree of Life

By Jonathan Lambert
December 11, 2018
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Neither animal, plant, fungus nor familiar protozoan, a strange microbe that sits in its own “supra-kingdom” of life foretells incredible biodiversity yet to be discovered by new sequencing technologies.

evolution

Should Evolution Treat Our Microbes as Part of Us?

By Jonathan Lambert
November 20, 2018
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How does evolution select the fittest “individuals” when they are ecosystems made up of hosts and their microbiomes? Biologist debate the need to revise theories.

Photo of Stromatolites
Abstractions blog

World’s Oldest Fossils Now Appear to Be Squished Rocks

By Jonathan Lambert
October 22, 2018
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Evidence for life in 3.7-billion-year-old rocks appears to be crumbling away.

Art for "‘Broadband’ Networks of Viruses May Help Bacteria Evolve Faster"
microbiology

‘Broadband’ Networks of Viruses May Help Bacteria Evolve Faster

By Jonathan Lambert
October 16, 2018
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A newly discovered mechanism may enable viruses to shuttle genes between bacteria 1,000 times as often as was thought — making them a major force in those cells’ evolution.


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About the author

Jonathan Lambert is an evolutionary biologist turned freelance science writer based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in Quanta Magazine, NPR and Scientific American, and he was a AAAS Mass Media fellow at the Dallas Morning News. Before writing, he was an assistant producer for Brains On! a science podcast for kids from American Public Media.
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