All of life encodes information with DNA. While tools for sequencing, synthesis, and editing of genomic code have transformed biological research, intelligently composing new biological systems would also require a […]
Despite awe-inspiring diversity, nearly every lifeform – from bacteria to blue whales – shares the same genetic code. How and when this code came about has been the subject of […]
In 2021, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, reported an astonishing new form of symbiosis: They found a unique bacterium that lives inside a […]
On Saturday, September 28th, an experiment designed by Genes in Space 2023 contest winner (18) of Hillsborough, California, launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard NASA’s Crew-9 mission. The […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been used to reveal details of a diverse and fundamental branch of life living right under our feet and in every corner of the globe.
The Andean Altiplano hosts a repertoire of high-altitude lakes with harsh conditions for life. These lakes are undergoing a process of desiccation caused by the current climate, leaving terraces exposed […]
Shortly after an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, life for non-avian dinosaurs ended, but the evolutionary story for the early ancestors of birds began.
A new study published in Science Advances reveals a surprising twist in the evolutionary history of complex life. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have discovered that a single-celled […]
Asgard archaea played a key role in the origin of the eukaryotic cell. While previous studies found that Asgard genomes encode diverse eukaryotic signature proteins (ESPs), representing homologs of proteins […]
Asgard archaea were pivotal in the origin of complex cellular life. Hodarchaeales (Asgardarchaeota class Heimdallarchaeia) were recently shown to be the closest relatives of eukaryotes. However, limited sampling of these […]
