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evolution

Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum leaf
botany

DNA Analysis Reveals a Genus of Plants Hiding in Plain Sight

By Olena Shmahalo
September 4, 2018
Read Later

Gene-sequence data is changing the way that botanists think about their classification schemes. A recent name-change for a common houseplant resulted from the discovery that it belonged in an overlooked genus.

Art for "Evolutionary Math and Just-So Stories"
Insights puzzle

Evolutionary Math and Just-So Stories

By Pradeep Mutalik
August 15, 2018
Read Later

Evolutionary stories like the grandmother hypothesis are easy to construct from mathematical models, but how well do they reflect reality?

Abstractions blog

How Insulin Helped Create Ant Societies

By Jordana Cepelewicz
August 14, 2018
Read Later

Evolution may have coopted an ancient metabolic mechanism to set social insects on the path toward one of the most puzzling behaviors found in nature.

Abstractions blog

Why Nature Prefers Couples, Even for Yeast

By Jordana Cepelewicz
July 17, 2018
Read Later

Some species have the equivalent of many more than two sexes, but most do not. A new model suggests the reason depends on how often they mate.

Illustration for "Mathematics Shows How to Ensure Evolution"
mathematical biology

Mathematics Shows How to Ensure Evolution

By John Rennie
June 26, 2018
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New results emerging from graph theory prove that the way a population is organized can guarantee the eventual triumph of natural selection — or permanently thwart it.

Photo of a grasshopper poised to jump.
biophysics

Too Small for Big Muscles, Tiny Animals Use Springs

By Viviane Callier
June 13, 2018
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Elastic springs help tiny animals stay fast and strong. New work is finding what size critters must be to benefit from the springs.

Photo of a diver between two tectonic plates in Silfra. reykjavik. Iceland
geophysics

Why Earth’s Cracked Crust May Be Essential for Life

By Rebecca Boyle
June 7, 2018
Read Later

Life needs more than water alone. Recent discoveries suggest that plate tectonics has played a critical role in nourishing life on Earth. The findings carry major consequences for the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

Lede photo for "How Vaccines Can Drive Pathogens to Evolve"
immunology

Vaccines Are Pushing Pathogens to Evolve

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
May 10, 2018
Read Later

Just as antibiotics have bred resistance in bacteria, vaccines can potentially lose their effectiveness over diseases they controlled. Researchers are working to head off the evolution of new threats.

Lede art for Embryo Development
developmental biology

Scientists Map the Genetic Steps as Eggs Become Animals

By Jordana Cepelewicz
April 26, 2018
Read Later

For the first time, researchers have traced the genetic programs that guide the development of each cell in early embryos. Surprisingly, even cells that start out different can end up the same.


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