In the vast and often unseen world of microscopic life, a recent discovery may force scientists to rethink what it means to be alive. Nestled inside a tiny plankton cell, researchers found a ...
In 2016, Craig Venter and his team at Synthetic Genomics announced that they had created a lifeform called JCVI-syn3.0, whose genome consisted of only 473 genes. This stripped-down organism was a ...
The brain is an evolutionary marvel. By shifting the control of sensing and behavior to this central organ, animals (including us) are able to flexibly respond and flourish in unpredictable ...