We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.
Quanta Homepage
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Computer Science
  • Topics
  • Archive

What's up in

evolution

Latest Articles

Artist’s conception of a large carnivorous dinosaur skull and the skeleton of a much smaller theropod staring at each other.
dinosaurs

Dinosaur Bone Study Reveals That Not All Giants Grew Alike

By Anna Gibbs
March 20, 2023
Comment
Read Later

A survey of prehistoric bones reveals that T. rex and some of its cousins had more than one way to reach enormous sizes. Evolution may have preserved that variation in modern animals too.

A stylized illustration showing half the heads and brains of a lizard and a mouse in cross-section side by side.
evolution

Gene Expression in Neurons Solves a Brain Evolution Puzzle

By Allison Whitten
February 14, 2023
Comment
Read Later

The neocortex of our brain is the seat of our intellect. New data suggests that mammals created it with new types of cells that they developed only after their evolutionary split from reptiles.

2022 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 21, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Momentum for new ideas in Alzheimer’s research joined advances in neuroscience, developmental biology and origin-of-life studies to make 2022 a memorable year of biological insights.

Holly Moeller walks along Campus Point Beach.
Q&A

She Finds Keys to Ecology in Cells That Steal From Others

By Veronique Greenwood
December 19, 2022
Comment
Read Later

The ecologist Holly Moeller studies microorganisms that expand their range by absorbing organelles and gaining new metabolic talents from their prey.

Illustration of butterflies with similar wing-color patterns holding bundles of DNA.
genetics

How Supergenes Fuel Evolution Despite Harmful Mutations

By Carrie Arnold
November 8, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Supergenes that lock inherited traits together are widespread in nature. Recent work shows that their blend of genetic benefits and risks for species can be complex.

A snake and two frogs staring at one another across a rock.
genomics

How Genes Can Leap From Snakes to Frogs in Madagascar

By Veronique Greenwood
October 27, 2022
Comment
Read Later

The discovery of a hot spot for horizontal gene transfer draws attention to the possible roles of parasites and ecology in such changes.

Artwork of human figure smelling a flower and the smell being categorized as a type of flower.
smell

Machine Learning Highlights a Hidden Order in Scents

By Allison Parshall
October 10, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Efforts to build a better digital “nose” suggest that our perception of scents reflects both the structure of aromatic molecules and the metabolic processes that make them.

Photo of man with gold-rimmed glasses and a pin-striped button-up shirt posing with his hand on an early hominid skeleton
Nobel Prize

Geneticist Awarded Nobel Prize for Studies of Extinct Human Ancestors

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
October 3, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Svante Pääbo has been awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for studying our extinct ancestors’ DNA.

Closeup video of a firefly flashing its abdomen, with other seemingly synchronized flashes in the background.
mathematical biology

How Do Fireflies Flash in Sync? Studies Suggest a New Answer.

By Joshua Sokol
September 20, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Field research suggests a new explanation for the synchronized flashing in fireflies and confirms that a novel form of “chimeric” synchrony occurs naturally.


Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • ...
  • 26
Next
Follow Quanta
Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

Youtube
YouTube

Instagram
Instagram

RSS
RSS

Newsletter

Past Month

Most Read Articles

This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
The Quanta Newsletter

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox

Recent newsletters
Quanta Homepage
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram

  • About Quanta
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Simons Foundation
All Rights Reserved © 2023