Genomics

In their search for sources of genetic novelty, researchers find that some “orphan genes” with no obvious ancestors evolve out of junk DNA, contrary to old assumptions.

A recently unearthed fossil and new genomic discoveries are filling important gaps in scientists’ understanding of how primitive green algae eventually evolved into land vegetation.

Machine learning and deep neural networks can capture and analyze the “language” of animal behavior in ways that go beyond what’s humanly possible.

Studies suggest that epigenetics allows some learned adaptive responses to be passed down to new generations. The question is how.

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

Researchers struggle to incorporate ongoing evolutionary discoveries into an animal classification scheme older than Darwin.

Surviving fragments of genetic material preserved in sediments allow scientists to see the full diversity of past life — even microbes.

New work raises the estimated diversity of viruses in the seas more than twelvefold and lays the groundwork for a better understanding of their impact on global nutrient cycles.

Promising efforts at disentangling the effects of genes and the environment on complicated traits may have been confounded by statistical problems.