Species

While the study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was the most urgent priority, biologists also learned more about how brains process information, how to define individuality and why sleep deprivation kills.

The simple insight that most changes are random had a profound effect on genetics, evolution and ecology.

In three bursts of adaptive change, one species of cichlid fish in Lake Tanganyika gave rise to hundreds.

The physicist Jeff Gore tests theories about microbe communities experimentally and finds new rules governing ecological stability.

The unintentional creation of “sturddlefish” hybrids may illuminate the genomic mechanisms that govern whether species can interbreed.

Clues from fish diversity suggest that interbreeding between species could be a major mechanism of fast speciation.

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

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

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.