Scientists historically have argued that evolution proceeds through gradual development of traits. But how can incremental changes apply to the binary switch between two sexes, male or female?

Phenotypic convergence, the appearance of similar forms in independent lineages, provides an opportunity for testing the predictability of genetic evolution. Similar phenotypes in different lineages ...

A research team has clarified a mechanism of how retrotransposons, genetic elements that can 'jump around' chromosomes and are known drivers of evolution, preferentially insert in the centromere. A ...

Skeletons of the early horse-relative Eohippus (left) and modern Equus (right). From Animals of the Past by Lucas. During the early 20th century many biologists were considering a variety of ...

Why molecular biology needs palaeontology / S. Conway Morris -- Can the Cambrian explosion be inferred through molecular phylogeny? / H. Philippe, A. Chenuil, A. Adoutte -- Protein families in the ...

American Journal of Botany, Vol. 102, No. 6 (June 2015), pp. 819-832 (14 pages) • Premise of the study: Crested sepals, which have evolved at least five times in Iris, are adaxially elaborated with a ...

Abstract: The evolution of altruism often requires genetic similarity among interactors. For structured populations in which a social trait affects all group members, this entails positive assortment, ...

The brain does not need its sophisticated cortex to interpret the visual world. A new study published in PLOS Biology ...