Over centuries of cultivating Saccharomyces cerevisiae to make dough, bakers have put selective pressure on the species, causing it to diverge into two distinct groups, according to the authors.

The animals kill off around one-quarter of the neurons in their somatosensory cortex, perhaps to save energy, and the cells appear to return the following summer.

Ferreting out the biological function of dreaming is a frontier in neuroscience.

The sperm, belonging to a tiny marine crustacean, dates back nearly 100 million years, making it the most ancient animal sperm found to date.

The scenarios that run through our sleeping brains may help us explore possible solutions to concerns from our waking lives.

A study explains how Zika was present among mosquitoes in Africa for decades without causing the harm to human health seen outside the continent in recent years.

Rather than introducing small chunks of DNA as other viruses do, some giant viruses can contribute more than 1 million base pairs to a host’s genome, broadening the ways in which viruses may shape eukaryote evolution.

Their ability to distinguish between individuals is strong evidence for fast mapping, a learning tool generally thought to belong only to humans.

In Chapter 7, “Wind and Breath,” author Jeremy England considers research findings that point to a surprising, emergent property of seemingly disordered molecules.