Animals

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.”

For the first time, scientists have decoded the molecular structure of a protein that helps to sync a biological clock to the phases of the moon.

Sticking out your tongue while doing delicate work with your hands reveals a history of evolutionary relationships.

Genetic elements called Mavericks that have some viral features could be responsible for the large-scale smuggling of DNA between species.

The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults.

Jellyfish and other aquatic creatures embody solutions to diverse problems in engineering, medicine and mathematics. John Dabiri, a fluid dynamics expert, talks with Steven Strogatz about what jellyfish can teach us about going with the flow.

New modeling work suggests why nature is more diverse than niche-based ecological theory predicts.

Changes in the 3D structure of their genome gave skates and rays their distinctive winglike fins and pancake flatness.

In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. Geometry may explain why.