evolution, microbiome

New techniques have shown that people reached the New World far earlier than the long-standing estimate of 13,000 years ago, but scientists still debate exactly when humans arrived on the continent—and how.

Diverse lines of evidence point to humans’ presence in the New World long before the dawn of Clovis culture. But rewriting this chapter of human history raises many questions about how these early people came to inhabit these continents.

Bacteria that live in the digestive tracts of animals may influence the adaptive trajectories of their hosts.

Meet some of the people featured in the June 2020 issue of The Scientist.

The study of evolution requires consideration of organisms’ microbiomes.

The Scientist reviews Serendipity, Complexity, The Human Superorgasism, and Love and Ruin

Welcome to the Microbiome, The Paradox of Evolution, Newton's Apple, and Dawn of the Neuron.

Early Neanderthal evolution; developing antivirals to combat polio; the mouth and skin microbiomes; insect-inspired, flight-stabilizing sensors

The gene behind a butterfly’s mimicry; the evolution of adipose fins; bacteria and bowel cancer; plants lacking plastid genomes

Chilly mice develop more tumors; gut bacteria aid cancer treatment; two Y chromosome genes sufficient for assisted reproduction; HIV’s “invisibility cloak”