Evolution and nature

Engineered ribozyme demonstrates how ancient RNA could have repaired itself

Engineered ribozyme demonstrates how ancient RNA could have repaired itself

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An enzyme made of RNA selectively recognizes a chemical mark that characterizes broken strands and attaches additional RNA to them. The discovery strengthens the possibility that ancient life in the RNA world could have preserved genetic information even without proteins
The evolution of human body size was not a straight path of growth.

The evolution of human body size was not a straight path of growth.

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An analysis of 386 fossils from 21 hominin species found a combination of a gradual increase in body weight and a significant jump that occurred within the genus Homo about two million to two and a half million years ago. At the same time,
The color of feces reveals from space what Adélie penguins eat

The color of feces reveals from space what Adélie penguins eat

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Satellites can't spot a single penguin from the Landsat program, but they can identify the spots left by nesting colonies. New research shows that the spectral signature of droppings can reveal not only the
Sea anemone used in research on the CARDIB protein and protection against viruses

The “Brake” That Protects Against Viruses: The Sea Anemone Reveals an Immune Pathway We Didn’t Know Existed

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Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte discovered that the CARDIB protein normally suppresses the sea anemone's antiviral response, but in its absence, viruses multiply more easily. The finding suggests that
The interior of a fossilized skull of Trawdenia planti, showing signs of nervous tissue.

Brain tissue more than 300 million years old preserved in a tiny fish fossil

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Advanced scans of the ancient fish Trawdenia planti have revealed neural tissue that filled almost the entire skull cavity. The finding provides clues to the early evolution of fin rays and allows fossil skulls to be used to reconstruct structure
Reconstructing the environment of northern Alaska in the Late Cretaceous: The Arctic was forested and inhabited by dinosaurs and small mammals, but the animals had to cope with months of winter darkness. Credit: James Havens.

Mammal fossils from Alaska reveal: The Arctic was an evolutionary crossroads during the age of dinosaurs

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Tiny fossilized teeth, some 73 million years old, have led to the identification of three previously unknown mammal species. The findings point to a diverse Arctic ecosystem and an ancient migratory route that connected Asia
Amphioxus embryo after molecular staining of a gene related to the development of the excretory system

The kidney and skeleton may share an earlier embryonic origin than previously thought

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A study led by the University of Haifa found that the first cells of the primary kidney in the embryos of a river otter and a catfish appear within the somites – embryonic units from which muscles, tendons and parts of the skeleton also develop. The findings
Nicotiana benthamiana, a relative of tobacco used in research laboratories, has been trained by researchers to produce a biological cocktail of psychedelic substances. Credit: Weizmann Institute of Science

A genetically engineered lab plant produced five psychedelic substances from three kingdoms of nature

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Weizmann Institute researchers have deciphered the DMT production pathway in plants and integrated genes from plants, fungi, and animals into the model plant. The system may be used in the future for the controlled production of compounds for research and drug development –
Common striped hyenas clean parasites from a common warthog in Uganda

The secret language that allows animals to cooperate across species

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A new review shows that sounds, body postures, colors, vibrations, and chemical signals allow animals of different species to coordinate actions, exchange services, and reduce the risk of exploitation or predation.
Koala in a eucalyptus tree. New genomic research shows that the major decline in koala populations began about 100 years ago, before humans arrived in Australia. Credit: Enhua Lee / University of Sydney

Genome reveals: Koala population collapse began about 100 years ago

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The first measurement of the mutation rate in koalas shows that their population began to collapse about 100 years ago – before humans arrived in Australia. A small eastern population survived and re-expanded.
A young gannet of the subspecies unique to the St Kilda archipelago, with colourful identification rings on its legs. St Kilda gannets are considerably larger than their relatives on mainland Britain. Craig Nisbet

In the Scottish Isles, tiny grebes have become "giants" – and perhaps on the way to new species

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The Shetland and St Kilda gannets are almost twice as heavy as their British relatives, differ in song and genome, and may be in the early stages of becoming new species.
Hunter-gatherers in Siberia. A plague 5,000 years ago. Illustration: Al-Hidaan website using AI

Ancient DNA reveals: This killed hunter-gatherers in Siberia as early as 5,500 years ago

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The disease didn't wait for cities to be founded: Ancient DNA from Lake Baikal reveals two deadly outbreaks that affected hunter-gatherer families about 5,500 years ago.
Major Oak, the ancient oak associated with the Robin Hood legends, stands in Sherwood Forest in England

After about a thousand years: "Robin Hood's Tree" in Sherwood Forest is dead

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After centuries in the heart of Sherwood Forest, Major Oak has stopped growing leaves. Experts explain how visitor damage to the soil, weakened roots, drought and heatwaves have overwhelmed the oak associated with Robin Hood legends
“Imagination of the giant octopus Nanaimoteuthis haggarti, which lived in the oceans of the Late Cretaceous.” Credit: Yohei Utsuki, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University.

Were giant octopuses super predators in the oceans of the age of dinosaurs?

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Jaw fossils from Japan and Canada suggest that ancient giant octopuses of the genus Nanaimoteuthis may have reached lengths of 7–19 meters and hunted hard-shelled prey, and their diet also included marine reptiles.
Golden-furred ground squirrel. Illustration: depositphotos.com

700-year-old dung reveals Ice Age ground squirrel menu

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The floor of Wonderwerk Cave during excavations. Credit: Wonderwerk Cave Project

New evidence: Human ancestors used fire in caves as early as 1.79 million years ago

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An international study with the participation of the Hebrew University has found signs of burning in tiny bones from Wonderwork Cave in South Africa. The findings do not prove that early humans knew how to make fire, but they do indicate that they introduced natural fire
Graptolites, creatures that lived after the Cambrian explosion. Are they descendants of connected cell colonies from the Ediacaran period? Illustration: depositphotos.com

Did reproduction slow down the evolution of the first animals?

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An ancient basalt tool from the Gesher Bnot Yaakov site, which was used to study the sources of hominin raw material about 780 years ago.

Already 780 years ago: Hominins in the Galilee planned the production of stone tools in advance

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Excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the University of Haifa in the prehistoric cave uncovered in Foreidis. The site dates to a period between approximately 400 and 250 years ago. Photo: Emil Aljem, Israel Antiquities Authority

A rare prehistoric cave from about 300 years ago was discovered in Foreidis

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The Israel Antiquities Authority and the University of Haifa unveil a time capsule from the Acheul-Yabrodian culture, a rare period in the study of human evolution, in which more complex lifestyles and technologies began to develop.
An adult male dragonfly that is blue. Photo: Tali Lamkof

The Spriters teach how to produce strong colors without polluting pigments

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Ben-Gurion University-led research reveals how spiders produce a saturated blue-green color from imperfect nanoscale structures. The mechanism may aid in the development of sustainable structural dyes
A colony of the coral Acropora eurystoma in the Gulf of Eilat, where reproductive hormone patterns were studied over three years.

Corals have a hormonal clock and it may help detect distress on reefs

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A three-year study of corals from the Gulf of Eilat has found cyclical patterns of reproductive hormones, including estrogen and progesterone. The findings may help in the future with early detection of damage to the reproductive capacity of coral reefs.
A humpback whale in the Mediterranean Sea. Photo by Aviad Sheinin

A rare sighting in Israel's deep sea: Two humpback whales were recorded west of Ashdod

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Researchers at the Maurice Kahn Marine Research Station at the University of Haifa have located two tadpoles in the deep sea, shortly before they were forced to halt an acoustic survey due to the security situation. This is only the second time since 2022 that
An illustration of our solar system. The asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter, dividing the solar system into what we call the inner and outer regions. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Did Jupiter help keep the ingredients for life near Earth?

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Jupiter may have played an important role in shaping the phosphorus and nitrogen reserves that helped Earth become a habitable world.
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Menicomycin: An Antibiotic Candidate That Attacks Bacteria at a New Exit Point

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A new antibiotic candidate attacks bacteria through a previously untapped site on the ribosome, offering a new direction in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
A California two-spot octopus in front of a mirror at the Dartmouth Octopus Laboratory. Credit: Mary Kieseler, Dartmouth.

Octopuses have learned to use their eyes to find hidden prey.

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Octopuses have been able to use their eyes to find prey behind them, providing new evidence of the surprising evolution of intelligence.
The killifish is an emerging research model for studying the genetic architecture of aging and age-related pathologies, which often exhibit sex-dependent patterns between females (left) and males (right). Credit: Itamar Harel

The gene that speeds up the start of life – and may take a toll in old age

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New research led by the Hebrew University points to a gene that demonstrates a rare evolutionary compromise: it aids in rapid growth and early sexual maturation, but may shorten life expectancy and increase the risk of tumors later in life.
A simulation of an asteroid impact on the ancient Earth, an event that may have created warm lakes that supported early microbial life.

Asteroid craters may have been havens for early life on Earth

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Asteroid craters are often seen as symbols of destruction, but new research suggests they may have also been havens for ancient life. Stromatolites discovered in Hapcheon Crater in South Korea may indicate hot, mineral-rich lakes that supported
Delicate microfossils do not preserve well when exposed to the surface, but they can be preserved in deeper rock layers. Credit: UC Santa Barbara

The first complex life clung to oxygen-rich seabeds for hundreds of millions of years

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A study in Nature reveals that the earliest eukaryotes known to science lived primarily on or in the seabed, in environments where there was oxygen, and not in the water column as previously thought.
The human body sometimes appears to be a well-designed system, but many of its features reflect evolutionary compromises rather than perfect design. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The human body is not a perfect machine: this is how evolution improvised solutions that work well enough

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The "Peking Man" statue near the site where it was discovered in Beijing. Illustration: depositphotos.com

400-year-old dental proteins hint: Homo erectus left traces in modern humans

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Proteins preserved in Homo erectus teeth from China, approximately 400 years old, indicate a possible connection to Denisovans and molecular traces that indirectly reached modern humans.
Iron-rich rock in the Lake Mead area in the USA. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Israeli research offers a solution to the mystery of life's directionality

New research from the Weizmann Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers a solution to a 150-year-old mystery: why the molecules of life chose one orientation. The researchers found that chiral molecules that appear as mirror images respond differently when
The leg of isopods collected during aggregative behavior in Eliad. (Credits - Idan Shizaf, Ariel Chipman and Aviatar Itzkovich)

Israeli study: Street lighting causes thousands of mosses to move in circles

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Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have documented for the first time the coordinated circular movement of thousands of terrestrial isopods of the species Armadillo sordidus. According to the study, the phenomenon is caused by artificial lighting at night, and not by breeding or magnetic attraction.
Fossilized structures of bacteria or algae, found in an ancient seabed now exposed in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Credit: Bruno Becker-Kerber/Harvard University

540-million-year-old fossils from Brazil change understanding of the origins of animals

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Structures previously thought to be footprints of tiny marine animals have turned out to be fossilized communities of bacteria and algae. The finding suggests that some of the Ediacaran oceans did not yet support such animals.
Domesticated cattle in the Turkana region, Kenya. Credit: Catherine Grillo.

Study in East Africa: The transition from gathering to grazing did not immediately change human nutrition

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Isotope analysis of archaeological remains in Kenya and Tanzania shows that early pastoralists maintained a diverse diet for generations, before a more animal-focused diet became established.
Health workers work in an area where an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has been reported in eastern Congo, May 2026. Credit: WHO/L. Mackenzie

World Health Organization declares Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern

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The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. According to the WHO, it is not a global pandemic, but there is concern about regional spread due to cross-border movement, insecurity and a lack of vaccines or treatments specific to the strain.
The figure illustrates how changes in genetic control lead to changes in the shape and structure of animals during evolution. The upper part shows larvae of two species of Drosophila: Drosophila melanogaster (left), which has dense rows of tiny hairs, and Drosophila sechellia, which has lost many of these hairs during evolution. These differences arise from changes in the expression of the shavenbaby gene during the embryonic stage (center of the figure). The lower part shows the control region of the shavenbaby gene, which includes a large number of control sequences called enhancers, which are important for ensuring stable expression of the gene. In D. sechellia, four of the enhancers have lost their activity, each through a different molecular mechanism – deletion of essential sequences, loss of binding sites for transcription factors, acquisition of repressive activity, and even exposure of previously existing repression. As a result, gene expression decreases and the tiny hairs disappear.

The stability paradox: How does the shape of creatures change throughout evolution?

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Researchers from the Technion have discovered how changes in genetic control sequences can lead to changes in body structure, even when the gene control systems are stable and resistant to change.
Artistic illustration of Nagatitan. Credit: Patchanop Boonsai

The largest dinosaur in Southeast Asia was discovered in Thailand: a 27-meter-long titan

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Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis was a giant herbivorous sauropod that lived 100 to 120 million years ago. The discovery reinforces Thailand's position as one of the most important centers for dinosaur research in Asia.
Reconstructing the appearance of a 40,000-year-old Neanderthal. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Ancient social networks helped Homo sapiens survive where Neanderthals weakened

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New research suggests that the disappearance of Neanderthals was not just due to harsh climate or competition with Homo sapiens, but also to a more fragile social and spatial structure. According to the model, the extensive networks of connections of Homo sapiens
Cruise ship. Such ships combine accommodations, restaurants, water systems, and crowded public spaces – conditions that can facilitate the spread of disease. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Cruise ships as a hotspot for outbreaks: What does the Hanta incident on the MV Hondius teach us?

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The deaths of three passengers and the cluster of Hantavirus cases on the MV Hondius expedition ship illustrate anew why cruise ships are a particularly vulnerable environment for the spread of disease: crowding, shared spaces, water and air systems, and an elderly population
Schematic representation of the main heavy and light stone tool technologies throughout the Paleolithic period in the Levant

Research from Tel Aviv University: Early humans reduced stone tools following the disappearance of giant animals

Researchers suggest that the transition from heavy stone tools to blades, flints, and light scrapers about 200 years ago was not simply due to technological advances, but to the need to adapt to hunting and processing smaller animals.
The effect of street lighting on wild rodents. Illustration: Avi Blizovsky via DALEE

Artificial night light disrupts the immune system of wild rodents

A study from Tel Aviv University found that artificial lighting at night, even at the intensity of street lighting, disrupts the activity patterns of the immune system in wild rodents and may increase the risk of mortality.
The Cambrian Explosion was a period in which more diverse and complex animals appeared in the fossil record. New theoretical research suggests that the early development of complex brains contributed to animals' ability to process information, and later to the emergence of diverse body shapes. Trilobite fossils. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Did the brain drive the Cambrian explosion?

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Prof. Ariel Chipman of the Hebrew University suggests that a complex brain evolved early in response to crowded and competitive marine environments, helping pave the way for the great diversity of animals.
Cricket. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Light pollution disrupts crickets' circadian rhythms and threatens their reproduction

Further research on crickets reveals that light pollution throws them out of sync, impairs their reproductive ability, and threatens their continued existence.
Map of the areas from which ancient and modern DNA samples were collected in a study of natural selection in western Eurasia. Credit: Akbari A. et al., Nature, 2026

Ancient DNA reveals: Human evolution did not stop, but continued to operate over the past thousands of years

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A large-scale study led by Harvard researchers identified hundreds of genetic variants that have changed under the influence of natural selection over the past ten thousand years.
Late Miocene fossil beds at Lutgam, West Turkana. Credit: Christian Rowan

The Turkana Rift in Africa, the cradle of humanity, ruptured faster than thought

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New study shows that the crust in the Cradle of Humankind region has thinned to just 13 kilometers, offering a new explanation for the wealth of ancient human fossils in Turkana
In the deserts of southeastern Arizona, several tiny cleaner ants groom a large harvester ant, licking tiny particles from its body. Credit: © Mark Moffett, Minden Pictures

Tiny ants have been recorded cleaning up large ants in the Arizona desert

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Smithsonian researchers have documented for the first time behavior reminiscent of "cleaner fish" in the sea: small ants climb onto large harvester ants and clean their jaws as well
A Neanderthal man and a Homo sapiens woman. Illustration: Avi Blizovsky via DALEE

Not a prehistoric romance: New study undermines the story of Neanderthals and Sapiens “love”

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New analysis shows that DNA patterns between Neanderthals and modern humans are not evidence of mate preference, but the result of complex biological mechanisms and social structures
Neanderthal display at the Vienna Natural History Museum. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Neanderthals may have already carried the genetic basis for complex language

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Researchers at the University of Iowa have found that rare regulatory sequences in DNA, which strongly influence language abilities, appeared even before the split between modern humans and Neanderthals.
An asteroid crashes into Earth. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Asteroids not only destroyed worlds, they may have also helped ignite life on Earth

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An egg photographed in the control room of the ESRF facility in France. Credit: Prof. Julien Benoit

A 250-million-year-old egg solved an evolutionary mystery: Mammal ancestors laid eggs

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