A major evolutionary theory says most genetic changes don’t really matter, but new evidence suggests that’s not true. Researchers found that helpful mutations happen surprisingly often. The twist is ...

Walk into consciousness labs, and you will mostly find studies on humans relying on verbal reports. This evidence is then ...

Environmental change doesn’t affect evolution in a single, predictable way. In large-scale computer simulations, scientists ...

It may have fewer than many of the other sciences, but biology does have two dozen or so “rules”—broad generalizations about ...

A study in fruit flies suggests an internal genomic arms race may be driving rapid evolution in proteins that still perform an essential, unchanging job: protecting chromosome ends.

Other than a few species of whale, humans are the only mammals that consistently demonstrate the unusual phenomenon of menopause. Most animals maintain their reproductive ability for the vast majority ...

Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses? The famous question, though implausible, reflects a ...

Evolutionary biology is the study of how life diversifies and adapts over time through a range of processes including mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, and natural selection. From its classical ...

The study of Astyanax mexicanus, encompassing both its cave-adapted and surface-dwelling forms, has emerged as a model for understanding evolutionary adaptation to extreme environments. Researchers ...

The most comprehensive dataset of termite genomes to date was created by an international team of scientists, led by ...

Mutation: it’s the raw material for evolution. That makes knowing the rate at which it occurs crucial to the study of evolutionary biology. Mutation rate figures into all kinds of calculations. For ...

Erik Svensson receives funding from from the Swedish Research Council (VR; grant no. 2020-03123). How will life on Earth and the ecosystems that support it adapt to climate change? Which species will ...