The geochemical carbon cycle is strongly influenced by life on land, principally through the
effects of carbon sequestration and the weathering of calcium and magnesium silicates in …

The neutral theory of molecular evolution has been widely accepted and is the guiding
principle for studying evolutionary genomics and the molecular basis of phenotypic …

The precise pattern and timing of speciation events that gave rise to all living placental
mammals remain controversial. We provide a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of …

The timing of divergences among metazoan lineages is integral to understanding the
processes of animal evolution, placing the biological events of species divergences into the …

Molecular dating of species divergences has become an important means to add a temporal
dimension to the Tree of Life. Increasingly larger datasets encompassing greater taxonomic …

Hydrothermal vents and methane seeps are extreme deep-sea ecosystems that support
dense populations of specialized macrobenthos such as mussels. But the lack of genome …

Flies are one of four superradiations of insects (along with beetles, wasps, and moths) that
account for the majority of animal life on Earth. Diptera includes species known for their …

Our ability to correlate biological evolution with climate change, geological evolution, and
other historical patterns is essential to understanding the processes that shape biodiversity …

Vertebrate vision is accomplished through light-sensitive photopigments consisting of an
opsin protein bound to a chromophore. In dim light, vertebrates generally rely on a single …

The fossil record suggests a rapid radiation of placental mammals following the Cretaceous–
Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction 65 million years ago (Ma); nevertheless, molecular time …