Biology

Is the brain a blank slate, or is it wired from birth to understand the world?

The biologist Marcus Feldman creates mathematical models that reveal how cultural traditions can affect the evolution of a species.

Tiny lines laid down by tooth enamel appear to reveal a previously unknown biological rhythm. If confirmed, the finding could help researchers understand why big animals grow slower — and live longer — than small ones.

A virus that causes crippling birth defects has been shown to do something else: It changes thousands of messages coming from DNA that control normal cellular activities.

Bioluminescent organisms have evolved dozens of times over the course of life’s history. Recent studies are narrowing in on the complicated biochemistry needed to illuminate the dark.

Recent discoveries have led some researchers to argue that the modern evolutionary synthesis needs to be amended.

At first, the biologist Richard Lenski thought his long-term experiment on evolution might last for 2,000 generations. Nearly three decades and over 65,000 generations later, he’s still amazed by evolution’s “awesome inventiveness.”

A new look at the reasons why organisms missing pairs of genes sometimes do much better than normal.

A new theory explains how fragile quantum states may be able to exist for hours or even days in our warm, wet brain. Experiments should soon test the idea.