evolution

A new theory suggests that cooperation between a host and its microbes may be a significant evolutionary force.

Is the random noise inside a cell a nuisance, or have cells evolved ways to put it to work?

By comparing the genomes of social and solitary bees, scientists hope to uncover the basis for communal behavior.

Evidence from Southwestern deserts suggests that oxygen-breathing organisms arose on land rather than in the seas.

A large new study of ovenbird lineages questions the extent to which competing species push each other to evolve.

Scientists have discovered building blocks similar to those in modern RNA that can effortlessly assemble when mixed in water and heated.

An MIT physicist has proposed the provocative idea that life exists because the law of increasing entropy drives matter to acquire lifelike physical properties.

Some organisms respond to stress by driving up their mutation rate. Are they evolving specific mechanisms to enhance evolution in times of crisis?

Mysterious episodes of genetic duplication in our great ape ancestors may have paved the way for human evolution.