Evolution

A debate has been settled over the earliest animal ancestor—a free-swimming creature with a well-developed nervous system

The genome of the 1920s Siberian husky Balto suggests that greater genetic diversity and less inbreeding contribute to better health

The real-life fungi that inspired The Last of Us hijack the bodies of ants, wasps, cicadas, and more.

Do efforts to create life—by cooking up imitations in computers, robots and molecules—point toward a universal definition of biology?

Scientists are on a mission to save parasites—not to kill them. Climate change is already doing an increasingly good job at the latter, and that could be a big problem for the world.

The evolution of terrestrial plant roots could have kicked off large-scale extinctions by throwing the planet’s mineral cycle into disarray

An extensive system of air sacs, evolved over and over, let dinosaurs grow larger without sacrificing strength

By tuning the enzymes that control the breakdown or storage of sugars, hummingbirds and cavefish adapt their metabolism to meet the demands of the vastly different environments in which they live

To protect from deadly drought and make it on land, plants developed complicated inner plumbing

Mammal species that live in groups seems to live longer than those that lead solitary lives

A new variant of the virus that causes COVID has mutations that make it more transmissible, but vaccines are still likely to protect against severe disease

From reviving dead pig organs to measuring viruses in our poop, here are some of the most intriguing medical advances of the year