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Solution: ‘Why Are There Two Sexes?’
The mathematical concept of parity and the fatal flaw of serial multiplication can help explain why having two sexes usually works better than having one or three.
First Support for a Physics Theory of Life
Take chemistry, add energy, get life. The first tests of Jeremy England’s provocative origin-of-life hypothesis are in, and they appear to show how order can arise from nothing.
Building Codes for Bacterial Cities
Hydrodynamics and competition guide the architectural design of biofilm fortresses.
The Illuminating Geometry of Viruses
Mathematical insights into how RNA helps viruses pull together their protein shells could guide future studies of viral behavior and function.
Missing Mutations Suggest a Reason for Sex
Sex might help natural selection purge excessive mistakes from our genes.
Cell Atlases Reveal Biology’s Frontiers
New techniques expose unexpected diversity within seemingly uniform tissues.
Why Are There Two Sexes?
Asexual reproduction can produce twice as many offspring as sexual reproduction without the hassle of finding and courting a mate. So why do most complex animals have two sexes? Why not three?
How Nature Solves Problems Through Computation
The evolutionary biologist Jessica Flack seeks the computational rules that groups of organisms use to solve problems.
Can Microbes Encourage Altruism?
If gut bacteria can sway their hosts to be selfless, it could answer a riddle that goes back to Darwin.