How do cells know what they should become as the body develops? Biological development depends crucially on spatial patterns: the lines that eventually give rise to segments, organs, or markings like ...

A genomic atlas of Nematostella vectensis reveals how primitive animals created multiple cell types millions of years ago, ...

Biologists are closing in on a puzzle that seems to turn classic evolutionary logic inside out, yet may be so common that it deserves to be called a new rule of life. Instead of always purging harmful ...

Much of the phenotypic variation that is observed within and between species is the result of differences in gene regulation: specifically when, where and how much the genes are expressed. Given the ...

The conservation of genome regulatory elements over long periods of evolution is not limited to vertebrates, as previously ...

Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan have identified the genes that allow an organism to switch between living as single ...

A study led by Dr. LI Chuanyun from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has revealed how recently evolved human-specific genes—critical for ...

Researchers from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy have developed synthetic genes that function like the genes in living cells. The artificial ...

A new study outlines the ways by which city life may be shaping the evolution of urban coyotes, the highly adaptable carnivores spotted in alleyways from Berkeley, Calif., to the Bronx, in New York. A ...

Sexual and kin selection in animals: Female mate choice in rodents / Jörns Fickel and Alexandra Weyrich. Extra-pair paternity and sexual selection / Emmi Schlicht and Bart Kempenaers. Male ...