Aging is like a box full of secrets. Inside this "Pandora's box" lies a ticking time bomb of viruses, obsolete from millions of years ago, called endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). Using different aging models and technologies, researchers have proven that the reactivation of ERVs acts as both a biomarker and driver of aging, which provides potential interventions to “control the plague” of aging.

Dog breeds are iconic, serving as familiar examples for how genetic selection can produce a diverse array of biological traits from appearance to physiology to behavior. Genome-wide analysis and large-scale surveys of companion dogs—pedigreed and mixed-breed—re-evaluates how much a dog’s breed genetically influences how they look and behave.

Psychologists, philosophers, and engineers have long known that the way we think about problems affects the way we solve them. Our recent paper proposes and tests a unifying theory of problem simplification that provides a new perspective on this age-old topic.

The mammals of Madagascar have seen many human induced extinctions while increasing human influence mean many more may follow. We show that adding to the few million years of evolutionary history that have already been lost, many more millions of years would be needed to regain the lost diversity if proper conservation measures are not employed.

Conspiracy beliefs are a major driver of local opposition to wind farms. The good news: Providing information in favor of wind farms can help overcome resistance. The bad news: It gets more difficult under realistic circumstances.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia are devastating neurological diseases. Yet, there is no effective treatment for them. We uncovered a genetic cause of these diseases leading to a cryptic process in neurons caused by a malfunctioning protein. Our finding might help provide a potential new therapy for such neurological diseases.