A computational method to authenticate low-coverage ancient DNA experiments shows that putative wheat sequences from 8000 years old sediments are most likely not of ancient origin.

Reconstruction of great auk population dynamics suggests that hunting pressure alone could have been responsible for their extinction, demonstrating that even abundant, widespread species can be vulnerable to intense exploitation.

Experimental mapping of the joint sequence space of an ancient transcription factor (TF) and its DNA binding sites reveals that epistasis across the molecular interface permitted the evolution of a new and specific TF-DNA complex.

Cell division by meiosis during sperm production depends on expression of an RNA-binding protein that prevents abnormal RNA-processing pathways.

The mouse gene Ythdc2 exemplifies an evolutionarily ancient family of crucial regulators of the transition from germline stem cell divisions to meiosis.

The dual function of an ancient prokaryotic enzyme, which is linked to specific metabolite signals, may have been the evolutionary driving force behind its dual localization in eukaryotes.

A comparative study of modern proteins identifies 40 fragments that may represent the observable remnants of a primordial RNA-peptide world.

The analysis of 18^th century Y. pestis genomes reveals a bacterial lineage that might be responsible for the 400-year period of European plague epidemics from the Renaissance through early modern times.

DNA sequences from the Middle Pleistocene reveal that the extinct Eurasian straight-tusked elephants were closely related to today's African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in Africa.