Evolution

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

The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults.

In some deep subterranean aquifers, cells have a chemical trick for making oxygen that could sustain whole underground ecosystems.

Changes in the 3D structure of their genome gave skates and rays their distinctive winglike fins and pancake flatness.

A new genetics study of ant “social parasites” shows how complex sets of features can emerge rapidly and potentially split species.

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

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.

The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can evolve.

A novel type of “jumping gene” may explain why the genomes of complex cells aren’t all equally stuffed with noncoding sequences.