One of the biggest quests in biology is understanding how every cell in an animal's body carries an identical genome yet ...

When the world slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic, its effects extended beyond humans. A recent study found that it reshaped urban ecosystems to such an extent that certain city-dwelling birds ...

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created an RNA molecule that can not just replicate, but “evolve” into a diverse range of more complex molecules. This find could plug a major gap in the ...

The DNA mutations that drive evolution are generally thought to be fairly random, but a new study suggests there’s some order to the chaos. Comparing the genomes of hundreds of plants grown in a lab, ...

Why does natural selection appear to happen slowly on long timescales and quickly on short ones? A multigenerational study of four lizard species addresses biology’s “paradox of stasis.” James Stroud ...

A new platform combines rational protein design with continuous evolution to discover functional molecules more efficiently. In medicine and biotechnology, the ability to evolve proteins with new or ...

Erik Svensson receives funding from from the Swedish Research Council (VR; grant no. 2020-03123). How will life on Earth and the ecosystems that support it adapt to climate change? Which species will ...