Microbes

Interest in a powerful DNA editing tool called CRISPR has revealed that bacteria are far more sophisticated than anyone imagined.

A massive statistical study suggests that even though genetic changes happen at random, the final evolutionary outcome — fitness — is predictable.

Bacteria may have helped single-celled organisms make the leap to multicellular animals.

Newly discovered patterns in evolution may help scientists make accurate short-term predictions.

A new theory suggests that cooperation between a host and its microbes may be a significant evolutionary force.

Is the random noise inside a cell a nuisance, or have cells evolved ways to put it to work?

New technologies have launched the life sciences into the age of big data. Biologists must now make sense of their windfall.

Population expansion may be a major driver in the evolution of cooperation, with implications for new antibiotics, cancer treatments and perhaps even human behavior.