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Inherited Learning? It Happens, but How Is Uncertain
Studies suggest that epigenetics allows some learned adaptive responses to be passed down to new generations. The question is how.
Fossil DNA Reveals New Twists in Modern Human Origins
Modern humans and more ancient hominins interbred many times throughout Eurasia and Africa, and the genetic flow went both ways.
What’s in a Name? Taxonomy Problems Vex Biologists
Researchers struggle to incorporate ongoing evolutionary discoveries into an animal classification scheme older than Darwin.
Ancient DNA Yields Snapshots of Vanished Ecosystems
Surviving fragments of genetic material preserved in sediments allow scientists to see the full diversity of past life — even microbes.
Scientists Discover Nearly 200,000 Kinds of Ocean Viruses
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.
New Turmoil Over Predicting the Effects of Genes
Promising efforts at disentangling the effects of genes and the environment on complicated traits may have been confounded by statistical problems.
Icefish Study Adds Another Color to the Story of Blood
The rainbow of pigments that animals use for blood illustrates a central truth of evolution.
Researchers Rethink the Ancestry of Complex Cells
New studies revise ideas about the symbiosis that gave mitochondria to cells and about whether the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes was one cell or many.
New Squid Genome Shines Light on Symbiotic Evolution
Researchers hope that the genes of a glowing squid can illuminate how animals evolved organs for beneficial bacteria.