Biology

A new theory from scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory suggests that brain cells use their cellular family tree to organize into a complex organ. The model explains how a single starting cell can form a brain with roughly 170 billion precisely positioned neurons.

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Scientists have identified a new fungus species that preys on zombie fungi in the tropical forests of Borneo. The discovery was made by researchers at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

An international research team has published the first complete map of neural connections spanning the brain and nerve cord of an adult fruit fly. The work reveals that many behaviors arise from distributed local circuits rather than centralized brain control. The connectome was released June 8 in the journal Nature.

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A new study suggests Earth's first animals evolved slowly because they reproduced asexually, limiting competition in ancient oceans. Researchers from the University of Cambridge say a later shift to sexual reproduction helped drive a surge in biodiversity during the Ediacaran period.

Researchers have identified three fossil insects, including a well-preserved extinct ant, inside pieces of 40-million-year-old amber once owned by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The specimens come from his collection of Baltic amber now held at the Goethe National Museum in Weimar.

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A new study shows that deer keds, blood-feeding flies, scale back their visual capabilities after landing on a host and shedding their wings permanently. Researchers found that the insects reduce activity in key vision-related genes by about half. The change allows them to redirect energy toward feeding and reproduction.