Naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) queens produce isopropyl myristate, a low-volatility ester that high-ranking animals detect and avoid, which alters prolactin and progesterone in other females t...

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt

In stop codon readthrough (SCR), ribosomes continue to translate past the stop. While programmed SCR is rare in mammals, it appears remarkably widespread in insects, yet its regulation and biological ...

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Parasitic beetles are the first animals known to imitate floral scents

Nature Ecology & Evolution - This Review discusses recent advances in the molecular evolution of vertebrate organs, including rates of evolution of organs and cell types, molecular mechanisms...

Expression of agouti signalling protein in neurons in the medial preoptic area is increased by group housing and negatively associated with care, and overexpression of Agouti reduces care and enhances...

Amphioxus are small marine chordates that have broad ecological ranges, yet as adults form local settlements and exhibit limited mobility. Genomic surveys of two amphioxus species have suggested that they rank among the most genetically diverse metazoans. Here, we present the first accurate assessment of genomic diversity in the European amphioxus ( Branchiostoma lanceolatum ) and investigate the processes underlying this diversity. We leverage high-coverage whole-genome sequencing data from multiple individuals sampled at two geographically distant Atlantic and Mediterranean locations. Consistent with previous estimates in other amphioxus species, we measure exceptionally high genomic diversity, with an average heterozygosity of 2.73% in B. lanceolatum . Despite the large geographic separation between sampling sites, population differentiation is minimal, indicating extensive gene flow among distant adult settlements. Phylogenetic analyses combined with population genetic simulations confirm that this elevated genomic diversity is primarily driven by a large effective population size. Although adult amphioxus have limited mobility, our results indicate that long-distance larval dispersal mediated by ocean currents is sufficient to generate a near-panmictic population structure across their broad ecological range. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Swiss National Science Foundation, 207853 Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR-21-CE13-0034

At a neurodevelopment conference I recently attended, where the focus is child health and development, I was astounded that not one voice…

After years of trudging through forests and peering into the hidden lives of tiny creatures, the number of lifers I get should rightfully decline but 2025 proved to be remarkably defiant. This year de...

Connectomics has so far outpaced the Moore’s law predictions about technological progress. At this pace, many whole-brain connectomes and connectomic screening will soon be realistic.

Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...

Researchers find that virgin female mice can become aggressive towards pups when hungry, but only in certain hormonal states.

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X-ray phase contrast tomography is emerging as a powerful method for imaging large volumes of brain tissue at sub-cellular resolution. However, current sample preparation methods are largely inherited...

In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

The Guardian joins a Jordanian military airdrop for a rare chance to observe a landscape devastated by Israel’s offensive