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Viviane Callier

Contributing Writer

Latest Articles

Illustration of DNA spooling around the histones in a classic nucleosome, with diverse animal life in the background.
molecular biology

DNA’s Histone Spools Hint at How Complex Cells Evolved

By Viviane Callier
May 10, 2021
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New work shows that histones, long treated as boring spools for DNA, sit at the center of the origin story of eukaryotes and continue to play important roles in evolution and disease.

A drawing of a piece of folded paper going back and forth between paper airplane and paper bird shapes.
Abstractions blog

Some Proteins Change Their Folds to Perform Different Jobs

By Viviane Callier
February 3, 2021
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Unusual proteins that can quickly fold into different shapes provide cells with a novel regulatory mechanism.

Looping video of chloroplasts moving within the walled cells of the pond plant Elodea.
Abstractions blog

Plant Cells of Different Species Can Swap Organelles

By Viviane Callier
January 20, 2021
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In grafted plants, shrunken chloroplasts can jump between species by slipping through unexpected gateways in cell walls.

Video artwork showing yellow blobs move, merge, split, shrink and enlarge inside a clear cube.
molecular biology

A Newfound Source of Cellular Order in the Chemistry of Life

By Viviane Callier
January 7, 2021
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Inside cells, droplets of biomolecules called condensates merge, divide and dissolve. Their dance may regulate vital processes.

Colorized micrograph of a cell’s nucleus, showing euchromatin and heterochromatin.
Abstractions blog

Scientists Find Vital Genes Evolving in Genome’s Junkyard

By Viviane Callier
November 16, 2020
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Even genes essential for life can be caught in an evolutionary arms race that forces them to change or be replaced.

Close-up photo of a carpenter ant queen carrying eggs.
evolution

How Two Became One: Origins of a Mysterious Symbiosis Found

By Viviane Callier
September 9, 2020
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Carpenter ants need endosymbiotic bacteria to guide the early development of their embryos. New work has reconstructed how this deep partnership evolved.

Illustration of two fantastical creatures. One lifts an urn in its arms. The other lacks arms but lifts the urn on its tail.
evolution

By Losing Genes, Life Often Evolved More Complexity

By Viviane Callier
September 1, 2020
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Recent major surveys show that reductions in genomic complexity — including the loss of key genes — have successfully shaped the evolution of life throughout history.

genomics

Where Do New Genes Come From?

By Viviane Callier
April 9, 2020
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In their search for sources of genetic novelty, researchers find that some “orphan genes” with no obvious ancestors evolve out of junk DNA, contrary to old assumptions.

Illustration of two strips of movie film coiled around each other in a double helix.
behavior

Inherited Learning? It Happens, but How Is Uncertain

By Viviane Callier
October 16, 2019
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Studies suggest that epigenetics allows some learned adaptive responses to be passed down to new generations. The question is how.


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