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evolution

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The New Quest to Control Evolution

By C. Brandon Ogbunu
November 29, 2023
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Modern scientists aren’t content with predicting how life evolves. They want to shape it.

Illustration of a miniature landscape with many peaks, and with small creatures of different forms standing on those peaks. Scientists in lab coats watch the creatures.
evolution

Evolving Bacteria Can Evade Barriers to ‘Peak’ Fitness

By Veronique Greenwood
November 28, 2023
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Paradoxically, natural selection can sometimes seem to block organisms from evolving useful adaptations. But a new study of “fitness landscapes” and antibiotic resistance in bacteria shows that life still finds a way.

immunology

During Pregnancy, a Fake ‘Infection’ Protects the Fetus

By Annie Melchor
November 14, 2023
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Cells in the placenta have an unusual trick for activating gentle immune defenses and keeping them turned on when no infection is present. It involves crafting and deploying a fake virus.

evolution

Fossilized Molecules Reveal a Lost World of Ancient Life

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
October 23, 2023
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A new analysis of ancient sediments fills a gap in the fossil record — revealing a massive dynasty of ancient eukaryotes, which may have reigned for 800 million years and shaped the history of life of Earth.

Q&A

Andreas Wagner Pursues the Secrets to Evolutionary Success

By Veronique Greenwood
August 15, 2023
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Why did mammals, grasses and some other groups of organisms explode in diversity only after millions of years? The evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner plumbs the secrets of those “sleeping beauties.”

Illustration of a bacterial cell in mid-fission. Its threads of DNA and other internal molecules are divided between the cells. A constriction on the midline marks where the daughter cells are splitting.
evolution

Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
August 9, 2023
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By watching “minimal” cells regain the fitness they lost, researchers are testing whether a genome can be too simple to evolve.

developmental biology

Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
July 26, 2023
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The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults.

Top of the illustration shows vegetation and half of a chloroplast releasing dots of oxygen. Bottom shows half of a cell in darkness releasing similar dots.
microbiology

Underground Cells Make ‘Dark Oxygen’ Without Light

By Saugat Bolakhe
July 17, 2023
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In some deep subterranean aquifers, cells have a chemical trick for making oxygen that could sustain whole underground ecosystems.

Underside of a skate embryo, stained in blue, on a salmon pink background.
evolution

How 3D Changes in the Genome Turned Sharks Into Skates

By Viviane Callier
May 30, 2023
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Changes in the 3D structure of their genome gave skates and rays their distinctive winglike fins and pancake flatness.


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