The springtime emergence of vast swarms of cicadas can be explained by a mathematical model of collective decision-making that has similarities to models describing stock market crashes.
Mathematics
Feb 1, 2024
0
8
A chemical system of synthetic replicators shows the first signs of Darwinian evolution: Two different replicators compete for a common building block, and which one wins depends on the environment. As the replicators can ...
Biochemistry
Aug 31, 2023
0
10
Unlocking the potential of laboratory-crafted DNA, known as synthetic DNA, holds the key to groundbreaking advancements across multiple domains, according to quantum biologists from the University of Surrey.
Biotechnology
Jun 2, 2023
0
211
Darwinian evolution is the process by which natural selection promotes genetic changes in traits that favor survival and reproduction of individuals. How fast evolution happens depends crucially on the abundance of its "fuel": ...
Evolution
May 26, 2022
1
1092
How does a cell balance risk and speed when dividing? EPFL scientists have developed and experimentally tested the first mathematical theory that describes the cell's best strategy for dividing safely and efficiently.
Cell & Microbiology
May 12, 2022
0
9
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have for the first time been able to create an RNA molecule that replicates, diversifies and develops complexity, following Darwinian evolution. This has provided the first empirical ...
Evolution
Mar 18, 2022
1
1046
What would happen if a selection experiment was performed on thousands of communities of microbes based on some community-level function? Researchers from ESPCI Paris-PSL, College de France, and ENS-PSL used a theoretical ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 9, 2020
1
8
Viruses are an inescapable part of life, especially in a global viral pandemic. Yet ask a roomful of scientists if viruses are alive and you'll get a very mixed response.
Plants & Animals
Jun 9, 2020
1
279
Evolution by Darwinian natural selection is immensely powerful—both in nature and within laboratories. Using 'laboratory evolution', we can take an enzyme which combines random mutations and functional selection, and improve ...
Biochemistry
Sep 12, 2018
12
280
The recent uproar about seats on a British Airways flight crawling with bedbugs is only one of the unintended consequences that urbanization worldwide has on evolution, say Marc Johnson, an associate professor of biology ...
Evolution
Nov 2, 2017
0
42
