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Carpenter ants need endosymbiotic bacteria to guide the early development of their embryos. New work has reconstructed how this deep partnership evolved.
Recent major surveys show that reductions in genomic complexity — including the loss of key genes — have successfully shaped the evolution of life throughout history.
We give our genes and our environment all the credit for making us who we are. But random noise during development might be just as important.
Collaborations in progress between ethicists and biologists seek to head off challenges raised by lab-grown “organoids” as they become increasingly similar to human brain tissue.
Modeling suggests that many embryonic cells commit to a developmental fate when they become too small to divide unevenly anymore.
Mitochondria are most famous as sources of metabolic energy. But by splitting and combining, they can also release chemical signals to regulate cell activities, including the generation of neurons.
During development, cells seem to decode their fate through optimal information processing, which could hint at a more general principle of life.
Jennifer Doudna, one of CRISPR’s primary innovators, stays optimistic about how the gene-editing tool will continue to empower basic biological understanding.
Jellyfish didn’t need novel genes to take an evolutionary leap in complexity.