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[:es]Where Do New Genes Come From?[:]

In their search for sources of genetic novelty, researchers find that some “orphan genes” with no obvious ancestors evolve out of junk DNA, contrary to old assumptions.
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[:es]To Make the Perfect Mirror, Physicists Confront the Mystery of Glass[:]

Sometimes a mirror that reflects 99.9999% of light isn’t good enough.
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[:es]Mathematics as a Team Sport[:]

When 50 mathematicians spend a week in the woods, there’s no telling what will happen. And that’s the point.
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[:es]Why Do Matter Particles Come in Threes? A Physics Titan Weighs In.[:]

Three progressively heavier copies of each type of matter particle exist, and no one knows why. A new paper by Steven Weinberg takes a stab at explaining the pattern.
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[:es]Billion-Year-Old Algae and Newer Genes Hint at Land Plants’ Origin[:]

A recently unearthed fossil and new genomic discoveries are filling important gaps in scientists’ understanding of how primitive green algae eventually evolved into land vegetation.
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[:es]Nature Versus Nurture? Add ‘Noise’ to the Debate.[:]

We give our genes and our environment all the credit for making us who we are. But random noise during development might be a deciding factor, too.
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[:es]Sudden Ancient Global Warming Event Traced to Magma Flood[:]

A study has cemented the link between an intense global warming episode 56 million years ago and volcanism in the North Atlantic, with implications for modern climate change.
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Axions Would Solve Another Major Problem in Physics

In a new paper, physicists argue that hypothetical particles called axions could explain why the universe isn’t empty.
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[:es]Ideal Glass Would Explain Why Glass Exists at All[:]

Glass is anything that’s rigid like a crystal, yet made of disordered molecules like a liquid. To understand why it exists, researchers are attempting to create the perfect, still-hypothetical “ideal […]