A new pipeline of electron microscopy techniques reduces the time required to visualize genetically targeted neurons and their connections by two orders of magnitude.

A longer birdsong-learning window evolves in response to sexual selection for song complexity and is associated with faster evolution of song performance characteristics.

The quantification of sexual selection reveals that it is important to consider the chosen time frame of measurement as well as the sexual system.

An NMR-based structural study of sperm proteins reveals a novel protein packaging/dispersion system embedded in a coevolutionary arms race.

Selection for asymmetric signalling between gametes explains the very origins of sexual asymmetry as seen in mating-types with morphologically similar but self-incompatible gametes.

Voltage-dye imaging followed by serial blockface electron microscopy of the same ganglion reveals structure–function relationships of leech motor behaviors.

The discovery of a biological switching valve provides an example of a mechanism that evolved in nature long before its invention by man and could inspire alternative valve technologies.

The pressure of fluid in the inner ear is controlled by opening of cellular valves in the endolymphatic sac to allow for regulated transepithelial fluid flow.

Serial-Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy (SBF-SEM) associated with biomolecular analysis show that chloroplast differentiation proceeds by distinct ‘structure establishment’ and ‘chloroplast proliferation’ phases, each with differential protein and lipid regulation.

Experiments and mathematical modelling show that rare nitrogen fixing symbionts invade a population dominated by non-fixing bacteria across plant generations, above a threshold of a combination of ecological factors.