In evolutionary biology, all life on Earth is theoretically part of a single phylogenetic tree, indicating common ancestry.

In a quiet freshwater pond in Ibaraki Prefecture near Tokyo, researchers have pulled from the water a microscopic giant that is forcing biologists to rethink how complex life began. The newly ...

Researchers recently discovered that a virus, FloV-SA2, encodes one of the proteins needed to make ribosomes, the central engines in all cells that translate genetic information into proteins, the ...

Viruses typically aren’t considered ‘alive,’ as many core biological functions are outsourced to their hosts. But a newly discovered organism appears to straddle the line between virus and cell. Like ...

The origin of life on Earth becomes even more fascinating and complex as we peer into the mysterious world of viruses. Said to have existed since living cells first appeared, these microscopic ...

Using genomics, evolutionary biologists test several hypotheses on the origin of viruses. New evidence suggests they may have emerged more times than previously thought. Corroborating the virus-first ...

We often hear that the coronavirus is finding better ways to attack cells, but the virus does not have an intentional purpose of spreading. Viruses happen to attach and infect cells by obeying the ...

In cells, ribosomes (shown as grey blobs) read RNA messages and convert the information into proteins. The researchers hypothesize that during infection, one component of the ribosome, eL40 (green ...