The Scientist asks Brigham and Women’s Hospital infectious disease specialist Lindsey Baden about testing for prior infections.

Research traces the evolution of a gene variant that reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, finding that it originally evolved in response to infectious bacteria.

Understanding the biomechanics of the trap-jaw ant could help humans build better, faster robots.

Female fruit flies assess the physical symmetry of male suitors through the songs they sing, a study claims.

A study suggests that several species of brown algae may have independently evolved to express both sexes simultaneously, and it’s likely that female algae evolved male traits—not the other way around.

Several mechanisms contribute to the increased transmissibility of this SARS-CoV-2 variant.

Researchers mapped ear canal shape to body temperature to predict when ancestors of mammals first became endothermic.

The findings mean that penguins may struggle to adapt under rapid climate change, researchers say.

Today’s extinction rates are sky-high. But scientists debate if that’s sufficient evidence to conclude that Earth is undergoing a mass extinction event—or whether that’s even a helpful designation.

Extinction is a natural part of life on Earth. But occasionally, extinction rates have surged far beyond usual levels, driving mass extinction events that have reshaped the trajectory of life.

Coppens, alongside Donald Johanson and Maurice Taieb, found a 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis fossil in the 1970s.

IgA antibodies appear to bind to specific species of commensal gut bacteria in mice, according to a study.

Fossil findings shed light on a little-known group of Cretaceous-era beasts—and indicate that the combination of a large head and diminutive arms was no evolutionary fluke.