Understanding what made the Earth a habitable planet is an overarching goal of planetary sciences. Early events during the Earth's infancy set the initial conditions for its long-term evolution. The formation of its iron core and rocky mantle is one of those essential events. It... click to read more

How did planets arise? How did the Earth become a unique planet with a habitable surface? A way to address these long-standing questions is to explore the "small bodies" of the Solar System. In addition to the planets and the satellites circuiting around them, our... click to read more

Parental care is an altruistic behavior broadly observed in nature. Altruistic parents provide their offspring with food and protection. These are costly behavior for parents, that are beneficial for the offspring's development and survival. However, parents can also be selfish. Selfish parents are interested in... click to read more

There are more than 400,000 known beetle species - and perhaps one million more species left to discover. This makes beetles one of the most diverse groups of animals on Earth. However, the causes for their extraordinary diversity are widely debated. Many claim that herbivory... click to read more

The genomes of all organisms are constantly under attack from a variety of sources, including the everyday effects of solar and ionising radiation together with chemical and oxidative insults. However, there are also more specific threats to our genomes like those that posed through invasion... click to read more