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Control of gene activity through transcriptional regulatory elements is a major driving force in human evolution. A new study measures nascent transcription directly and shows that sequence, activity and three-dimensional organization of transcriptional regulatory elements all contribute to the evolution of gene activity within primate CD4+ T cells.
A dataset that links geographical occurrences, phylogenies, fossils and climate reconstructions for more than 10,000 vertebrate species reveals accelerated rates of climate niche evolution in warm-blooded animals.
For natural ecosystems, the speed of climate change is what matters most. If stratospheric climate geoengineering is deployed but not sustained, its impacts on species and communities could be far worse than the damage averted.
Large-scale analysis of faunal similarity reveals the interconnectedness of Miocene savannah ecosystems, but also the need for more fossils to fill the gaps in the African palaeontological record.
