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Viviane Callier

Contributing Writer

Latest Articles

Illustration of DNA that combines elements of mealybug and bacterial imagery.
evolution

Cell-Bacteria Mergers Offer Clues to How Organelles Evolved

By Viviane Callier
October 3, 2019
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Cells in symbiotic partnership, sometimes nested one within the other and functioning like organelles, can borrow from their host’s genes to complete their own metabolic pathways.

Illustration: a virus broken up into parts over several cells
viruses

Viruses Can Scatter Their Genes Among Cells and Reassemble

By Viviane Callier
May 21, 2019
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Some viruses can replicate without infecting any one cell with all their genes.

Abstractions blog

Viruses Have a Secret, Altruistic Social Life

By Viviane Callier
April 15, 2019
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Researchers are beginning to understand the ways in which viruses strategically manipulate and cooperate with one another.

Art for "Fragile DNA Enables New Adaptations to Evolve Quickly"
evolution

Fragile DNA Enables New Adaptations to Evolve Quickly

By Viviane Callier
February 5, 2019
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If highly repetitive gene-regulating sequences in DNA are easily lost, that may explain why some adaptations evolve quickly and repeatedly.

Art for "Adaptations or Neutral Changes? Evolutionary Theory Seeks a Balance"
evolution

Theorists Debate How ‘Neutral’ Evolution Really Is

By Viviane Callier
November 8, 2018
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For 50 years, evolutionary theory has emphasized the importance of neutral mutations rather than adaptive ones at the level of DNA. Real genomic data challenges that assumption.

Photo of a grasshopper poised to jump.
biomechanics

Too Small for Big Muscles, Tiny Animals Use Springs

By Viviane Callier
June 13, 2018
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Elastic springs help tiny animals stay fast and strong. New work is finding what size critters must be to benefit from the springs.

Image for "Cells Talk and Help One Another via Tiny Tube Networks"
microbiology

Cells Talk and Help One Another via Tiny Tube Networks

By Viviane Callier
April 23, 2018
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Long-overlooked “tunneling nanotubes” and other bridges between cells act as conduits for sharing RNA, proteins or even whole organelles.

Elephant thumbnail
genomics

A Zombie Gene Protects Elephants From Cancer

By Viviane Callier
November 7, 2017
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Elephants did not evolve to become huge animals until after they turned a bit of genetic junk into a unique defense against inevitable tumors.

The delicate specialized structure of the water strider genus Rhagovelia looks like a Japanese fan.
evolution

Insects Conquered a Watery Realm With Just Two New Genes

By Viviane Callier
October 19, 2017
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Minor genetic changes can have big evolutionary consequences. When a gene duplication gave some water striders a novel leg part, it opened up a new world for them.


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