Evolution

Unusual proteins that can quickly fold into different shapes provide cells with a novel regulatory mechanism.

A glass sponge found deep in the Pacific shows a remarkable ability to withstand compression and bending, on top of the sponge’s other unusual properties.

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.

Mistletoes have all but shut down the powerhouses of their cells. Scientists are still trying to understand the plants’ unorthodox survival strategy.

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.

Even genes essential for life can be caught in an evolutionary arms race that forces them to change or be replaced.

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

Carpenter ants need endosymbiotic bacteria to guide the early development of their embryos. New work has reconstructed how this deep partnership evolved.