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New Squid Genome Shines Light on Symbiotic Evolution
Researchers hope that the genes of a glowing squid can illuminate how animals evolved organs for beneficial bacteria.
How the Brain Creates a Timeline of the Past
The brain can’t directly encode the passage of time, but recent work hints at a workaround for putting timestamps on memories of events.
Artificial Intelligence Finds Ancient ‘Ghosts’ in Modern DNA
With the help of deep learning techniques, paleoanthropologists find evidence of long-lost branches on the human family tree.
Fragile DNA Enables New Adaptations to Evolve Quickly
If highly repetitive gene-regulating sequences in DNA are easily lost, that may explain why some adaptations evolve quickly and repeatedly.
Why Evolution Reversed These Insects’ Sex Organs
Among these cave insects, the females evolved to have penises — twice. The reasons challenge common assumptions about sex.
Gene Drives Work in Mice (if They’re Female)
Biologists have demonstrated for the first time that a controversial genetic engineering technology works, with caveats, in mammals.
The Brain Maps Out Ideas and Memories Like Spaces
Emerging evidence suggests that the brain encodes abstract knowledge in the same way that it represents positions in space, which hints at a more universal theory of cognition.
Jellyfish Genome Hints That Complexity Isn’t Genetically Complex
Jellyfish didn’t need novel genes to take an evolutionary leap in complexity.
Ancient Turing Pattern Builds Feathers, Hair — and Now, Shark Skin
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.