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Electric Fish Genomes Reveal How Evolution Repeats Itself
By studying how electric organs arose in different lineages of fish, scientists gain new insights into a long-standing question of evolutionary biology.
Epigenetic ‘Clocks’ Predict Animals’ True Biological Age
A statistical analysis of chemical tags on DNA may help unify disparate theories of aging.
Geometric Analysis Reveals How Birds Mastered Flight
Partnerships between engineers and biologists have begun to reveal how birds evolved their superb maneuverability.
Reshuffled Rivers Bolster the Amazon’s Hyper-Biodiversity
The lush biodiversity of the Amazon may be due in part to the dynamics of branching rivers, which serve as invisible fences that continuously barricade and merge bird populations.
Brain-Signal Proteins Evolved Before Animals Did
Some animal neuropeptides have been around longer than nervous systems.
Mitochondria Double as Tiny Lenses in the Eye
The optical properties of mitochondrial bundles in the retina may improve how efficiently the eye captures light.
Secrets of Early Animal Evolution Revealed by Chromosome ‘Tectonics’
Large blocks of genes conserved through hundreds of millions of years of evolution hint at how the first animal chromosomes came to be.
Flying Fish and Aquarium Pets Yield Secrets of Evolution
New studies reveal the ancient, shared genetic “grammar” underpinning the diverse evolution of fish fins and tetrapod limbs.
New Brain Maps Can Predict Behaviors
Rapid advances in large-scale connectomics are beginning to spotlight the importance of individual variations in the neural circuitry. They also highlight the limitations of “wiring diagrams” alone.