ADVERTISEMENT

cell & molecular biology, evolution

Sugar Time
Catherine Offord | Mar 1, 2016 | 2 min read
Metabolic activity, not light, drives the circadian clock in cyanobacteria.
Week in Review: February 22–26
Jef Akst | Feb 26, 2016 | 3 min read
Questions about how E. coli evolves; spermatids in a dish; fighting bacteria with virus-like molecule; what drives metastasis; antibodies fight Ebola in monkeys
How Multicellularity Arose
Jef Akst | Jan 11, 2016 | 1 min read
Researchers identify a molecule that may have been key to the surprisingly common transition from single-celled ancestors to today’s complex, multicellular organisms. 
Evolutionary Rewiring
Ruth Williams | Feb 26, 2015 | 3 min read
Strong selective pressure can lead to rapid and reproducible evolution in bacteria.
How Hummingbirds Taste Nectar
Ruth Williams | Aug 21, 2014 | 3 min read
Hummingbirds perceive sweetness through a receptor with which other vertebrates taste savory foods. 
Contributors
Abby Olena and Tracy Vence | Jan 1, 2014 | 3 min read
Meet some of the people featured in the January 2014 issue of The Scientist.
Week in Review: November 18–22
Tracy Vence | Nov 22, 2013 | 4 min read
Chilly mice develop more tumors; gut bacteria aid cancer treatment; two Y chromosome genes sufficient for assisted reproduction; HIV’s “invisibility cloak”
Evolving Pain Resistance
Jef Akst | Oct 24, 2013 | 4 min read
Grasshopper mice harbor mutations in a pain-transmitting sodium channel that allow them to prey on highly toxic bark scorpions.
Color from Structure
Cristina Luiggi | Feb 1, 2013 | 10+ min read
Researchers are working to understand how often-colorless biological nanostructures give rise to some of the most spectacular technicolor displays in nature.
Photonic Colored Creatures
Cristina Luiggi | Jan 31, 2013 | 1 min read
Animals and plants come in a dizzying array of colors. Current research is cracking into the remarkable structures behind nature's artistic display.
Evolution by Splicing
Ruth Williams | Dec 20, 2012 | 3 min read
Comparing gene transcripts from different species reveals surprising splicing diversity.
A Scientist Emerges
Jef Akst | Aug 1, 2012 | 3 min read
At age 16, Alexandra Sourakov has her first scientific publication, on the foraging behavior of butterflies.
Live Slow, Die Old
Ed Yong | May 17, 2012 | 3 min read
Ancient bacteria living in deep-sea sediments are alive—but with metabolisms so slow that it’s hard to tell.
Long Live the Y
Megan Scudellari | Feb 22, 2012 | 3 min read
Despite suggestions to the contrary, the Y chromosome is not necessarily rotting away.
Gain a Chromosome and Adapt
Sabrina Richards | Jan 29, 2012 | 3 min read
Research in yeast shows that aneuploidy is both a consequence of and an adaptation to stress.
The Making of a Trait
Megan Scudellari | Jan 26, 2012 | 4 min read
Populations of organisms acquire beneficial traits repeatedly and rapidly through co-evolution with other species and through gene interaction.
Bacterial Rejuvenation
Edyta Zielinska | Oct 27, 2011 | 3 min read
Bacteria age, but as a lineage, can live forever.
Wolbachia Boost Stem Cell Production
Jef Akst | Oct 20, 2011 | 4 min read
The widespread bacteria known to manipulate host reproductive output can do so by ramping up stem cell division and consequent egg production in Drosophila.
Marauding Moths
Jessica P. Johnson | Oct 1, 2011 | 4 min read
Dried plant specimens reveal the origin of an insect pest that has spread throughout Europe.
Mammoth Blood in the ER?
Rachel Nuwer | Sep 19, 2011 | 1 min read
A 35,000-year old woolly mammoth blood protein may aid in contemporary medical procedures.
ADVERTISEMENT