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How Life and Luck Changed Earth’s Minerals
Did the minerals on our planet arise in a predictable fashion, or did they result from chance events? The answers could eventually help scientists identify planets likely to harbor life.
At Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life
A new technique for finding and characterizing microbes has boosted the number of known bacteria by almost 50 percent, revealing a hidden world all around us.
New Letters Added to the Genetic Alphabet
Scientists hope that new genetic letters, created in the lab, will endow DNA with new powers.
Decoding the Remarkable Algorithms of Ants
The biologist Deborah Gordon has uncovered how ant colonies search efficiently without central organization, an insight that might improve computer networks.
Biologists Invoke the Past in Modern Bacteria
By swapping ancient genes into modern E. coli, scientists hope to tease out the rules of evolution.
Below Our Feet, a World of Hidden Life
The soil teems with billions of hidden microbes. Researchers have begun to catalog how these organisms are changing the world.
How Dinosaurs Shrank and Became Birds
Modern birds emerged in a snap of evolutionary time through a series of simple genetic changes.
Scientists Map 5,000 New Ocean Viruses
In the few decades since viruses were first found in the oceans, scientists have only been able to identify a handful of species. A new survey has uncovered nearly all the rest.
Animal Copies Reveal Roots of Individuality
Genetically identical animals raised under similar conditions can make very different choices. These distinctions are helping researchers map the biological basis of individuality.