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The Information Theory of Life

November 19, 2015

The polymath Christoph Adami is investigating life’s origins by reimagining life as self-perpetuating information strings.

How Humans Evolved Supersize Brains

November 10, 2015

Scientists have begun to identify the symphony of biological triggers that powered the extraordinary expansion of the human brain.

The Woman Who Stared at Wasps

November 5, 2015

The biologist Joan Strassmann discusses cooperation in social insects, how amoebas can teach us about competition, and why the definition of “organism” needs an overhaul.

Life’s Secrets Sought in a Snowflake

November 3, 2015

A single genetic change and some clever geometry show how single-celled organisms can band together to form cooperative multicellular entities.

Mongrel Microbe Tests Story of Complex Life

October 29, 2015

A newly discovered class of microbe could help to resolve one of the biggest and most controversial mysteries in evolution — how simple microbes transformed into the complex cells that produced animals, plants and fungi.

Networks Untangle Malaria’s Deadly Shuffle

October 15, 2015

By examining regions shared between some of nature's most variable genes, malaria researchers are piecing together an understanding of a deadly parasite.

A Twisted Path to Equation-Free Prediction

October 13, 2015

Complex natural systems defy analysis using a standard mathematical toolkit, so one ecologist is throwing out the equations.

The Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death

October 6, 2015

Only a few genetic changes were enough to change an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague.

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An Explorer of Life’s Deepest Partnerships

September 17, 2015

The biologist Nancy Moran has spent a career investigating the surprising nature of symbiosis, a phenomenon in which two species can appear to merge into one.

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