Looking at nature we see symmetric arrangements in flower petals, simple spirals in snail shells, repeating branching patterns in fern leaves and lung structures, and regular arrangements of proteins in many biomolecules. But why are these symmetric and regular structures so common in biology? There... click to read more

After decades of whaling, the last sanctum for blue whales of the eastern South Pacific Ocean was found off the coast in Northern Chilean Patagonia (NCP). Here most of the population concentrates during  the summer and autumn seasons of the Earth’s southern hemisphere (also known... click to read more

The extinction of the dinosaurs from space rock is possibly the most famous of all mass extinctions. This ~12 km wide asteroid, about twice as tall as Kilimanjaro, impacted a reef off the coast of the Yucatán peninsula and caused tsunamis, earthquakes, and seiches. Molten... click to read more

Climate change and human activities impact living creatures in complex ways. In response, organisms may acclimate to those challenges during their lifetime or adapt over several generations, through genetic changes. Organisms with characteristics matching best their new environment, such as size at reproduction, will spread... click to read more

Spiders are among the oldest and most successful land predators, with a fossil record much earlier than dinosaurs. All spiders are preeminent craftsmen, producing silks that can be even stronger than steel in strength-to-weight ratio. When woven into a web, the animal architecture functions as... click to read more