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evolution

Illustration of a connection between a bat and a human, with a backdrop of coronaviruses.
Quantized Columns

The Animal Origins of Coronavirus and Flu

By Tara C. Smith
February 25, 2020
Read Later

Zoonotic diseases like influenza and many coronaviruses start out in animals, but their biological machinery often enables them to jump to humans.

Abstractions blog

Biodiversity Alters Strategies of Bacterial Evolution

By Jordana Cepelewicz
January 6, 2020
Read Later

In evolution, context is everything: Bacteria with neighbors evolve to rebuff viruses in a different way.

Art for "Quanta’s Year in Biology (2019)"
2019 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 23, 2019
Read Later

Researchers explored the zone between life and death, charted the mind’s system for arranging ideas and memories and learned how life’s complexity emerged.

Illustration of DNA that combines elements of mealybug and bacterial imagery.
evolution

Cell-Bacteria Mergers Offer Clues to How Organelles Evolved

By Viviane Callier
October 3, 2019
Read Later

Cells in symbiotic partnership, sometimes nested one within the other and functioning like organelles, can borrow from their host’s genes to complete their own metabolic pathways.

Scanning electron micrograph of a cluster of coccolithophores.
ecology

How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry

By Christie Wilcox
October 1, 2019
Read Later

Only 170 million years ago, new plankton evolved. Their demand for carbon and calcium permanently transformed the seas as homes for life.

Cichlid fish of diverse colors and shapes swim together.
evolution

New Hybrid Species Remix Old Genes Creatively

By Jonathan Lambert
September 10, 2019
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Clues from fish diversity suggest that interbreeding between species could be a major mechanism of fast speciation.

3D illustration of three human skulls, split into left and right halves and nested one inside the next.
evolution

Fossil DNA Reveals New Twists in Modern Human Origins

By Jordana Cepelewicz
August 29, 2019
Read Later

Modern humans and more ancient hominins interbred many times throughout Eurasia and Africa, and the genetic flow went both ways.

Abstractions blog

Can New Species Evolve From Cancers? Maybe. Here’s How.

By Christie Wilcox
August 19, 2019
Read Later

Researchers agree it’s a long shot, but transmissible cancers could theoretically evolve into independent species. Certain weird parasites might be living proof.

evolution

Scientists Debate the Origin of Cell Types in the First Animals

By Jordana Cepelewicz
July 17, 2019
Read Later

Theories about how animals became multicellular are shifting as researchers find greater complexity in our single-celled ancestors.


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