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evolution

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Three “inquiline” social parasites of the clonal raider ant species, showing their queenlike wings on worker-size bodies, on a white background.
evolution

A Mutation Turned Ants Into Parasites in One Generation

By Viviane Callier
May 8, 2023
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A new genetics study of ant “social parasites” shows how complex sets of features can emerge rapidly and potentially split species.

biodiversity

How Pools of Genetic Diversity Affect a Species’ Fate

By Anna Funk
April 25, 2023
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A new, deeper understanding of how the breeding structure of species affects their genetic diversity is giving conservationists better tools for saving animals.

Colored micrograph of the new Loki Asgard archaeon that was reported in December 2022.
microbes

Primitive Asgard Cells Show Life on the Brink of Complexity

By Joshua Sokol
April 11, 2023
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As researchers race to cultivate more of the intriguing cells from the deep seafloor, the few cells now growing in labs are giving us our best glimpses of the forerunners of all complex life.

A female Bolivian squirrel monkey with a baby on its back, walking across a suspended rope ladder. A third money crouches behind it.
evolution

Animal Mutation Rates Reveal Traits That Speed Evolution

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
April 5, 2023
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The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can evolve.

genomics

How a DNA ‘Parasite’ May Have Fragmented Our Genes

By Jake Buehler
March 30, 2023
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A novel type of “jumping gene” may explain why the genomes of complex cells aren’t all equally stuffed with noncoding sequences.

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


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