Microbiome genes on the move
Largest metagenomic view of the developing world uncovers “mobile genes” that reveal how culture shapes the human microbiome.
Study pinpoints timing of oxygen’s first appearance in Earth’s atmosphere
Beginning 2.33 billion years ago, atmospheric oxygen built up in just 10 million years.
Code of the humans
New book by Noam Chomsky and Robert Berwick explores how people acquired unique language skills.
Title for ‘Earth’s first animal’ likely goes to simple sea creature
Sponges may be source of molecular fossils that significantly predate Cambrian explosion.
The rapid rise of human language
New paper suggests people quickly started speaking in a now-familiar form.
Evolutionary approaches to big-data problems
Una-May O'Reilly applies machine learning and evolutionary algorithms to tackle some of the world's biggest big-data challenges.
Neuroscientists identify key role of language gene
Mutation that arose long ago may be key to humans’ unique ability to produce and understand speech.
Did Neanderthals eat their vegetables?
MIT study provides first direct evidence of plants in the Neanderthal diet.
From contemporary syntax to human language’s deep origins
New paper amplifies hypothesis that human language builds on birdsong and speech forms of other primates.
Yeast studies suggest alternative cancer approach
Biophysicist Jeff Gore and collaborators urge applying lessons from yeast colony collapse to tumor growth.
Ocean microbes display remarkable genetic diversity
One species, a few drops of seawater, hundreds of coexisting subpopulations.
For the good of the colony
Research shows the success of a bacterial community depends on its shape.