Insight articles are related to original research papers in eLife and explain why the results reported in the paper are significant in a given field of research. Insight articles are commissioned by eLife staff.
Elephants and fruit bats have evolved large brains even though they have lost a gene that is fundamental to the supply of energy to the brain when glucose is not available.
Just 5% of the human genome is subject to neutral evolution but this process remains central to understanding the history of human migration across the Earth.
The discovery of a gene that regulates two segmentation mechanisms in spider embryos is fueling the ongoing debate about the evolution of this crucial developmental process.
A mutation that causes heart disease in humans increases the number of active myosin heads during contraction in the muscles of fruit flies, leading to the progressive dysfunction of the flight muscles and heart tube.
