evolutionary biology

This discovery closes a 170-million-year gap in the fossil record.

Fungal pathways in cheese rinds affect the composition of bacterial communities residing there.

Developmental biologists take a close look at how alligator embryos grow. 

Aggressive little marine predators, mantis shrimps possess a mushroom body that appears identical to the one found in insects.

The 10-micrometer-long flagellate cell might have a big story to tell about the evolution of eukaryotes.

Ancient fossils reveal how woodless trees got so big: by continuously ripping apart their xylem and knitting it back together.

Meet some of the people featured in the October 2017 issue of The Scientist.

Emerging infections provide clues about how pathogens might evolve when farm animals are protected from infection.

Tracking the myxoma virus in the wild rabbit populations of Australia has yielded insight into how pathogens and their hosts evolve.

A study traces proteins’ evolution from the immune to the olfactory system.

The turtle-headed sea snake is losing its stripes, and researchers suggest that the change reflects adaptation to fouled oceans.

Their waters served as refuges during ice ages, allowing for adaptation and the emergence of new species.

Biologists’ walk in the woods sparks the creation of a masterful fruit fly field guide. 

Parallel evolution in jaws and teeth helped early mammals diversify their diets.

Harvesting lab-raised zebrafish based on their size led to differences in the activity of more than 4,000 genes, as well as changes in allele frequencies of those genes, in the fish that remained.

From fish harvests to cottonwood forests, organisms display evidence that species change can occur on timescales that can influence ecological processes.

The ancient human may have lived around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago—much more recently than previously estimated.

The results of a historical primate behavior analysis suggest that species with fruit-filled diets evolved larger brains.

Corbiculate bees and their gut-dwelling microbes have been coevolving since the social species evolved from their solitary ancestors around 80 million years ago, scientists suggest. 

An analysis of 74 dinosaur species leads a group of researchers to reorganize the extinct animals’ evolutionary history.