Nature Positive is an aspirational term that is increasingly being used by businesses, governments and NGOs, but there is a danger that its meaning is being diluted away from measurable overall net gain in biodiversity towards merely any action that benefits nature, argues E.J. Milner-Gulland.

The recently released IPBES Values Assessment explores the myriad ways in which nature can and should be valued. Policymakers now need to diversify their view of the relationship between nature and people.

The bicentenary of the birth of Mendel is an opportunity to explore the origins of genetics and to confront some of its difficult subsequent history.

Pharaoh ants live in highly organized colonies with elaborate social structure. An atlas of the brain cells of the different sexes and social groups of this ant reveals cell compositions tailored to the tasks performed by each group.

Ant colonies with permanent division of labour between castes and highly distinct roles of the sexes have been conceptualized to be superorganisms, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate caste/sex-specific behavioural specialization have remained obscure. Here we characterized the brain cell repertoire of queens, gynes (virgin queens), workers and males of Monomorium pharaonis by obtaining

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos) are sister species possessing distinct physiological and behavioural adaptations that evolved over the last 500,000 years. However, comparative and population genomics analyses have revealed that several extant and extinct brown bear populations have relatively recent polar bear ancestry, probably as the result of geographically localized

Governments around the world are too slow and too weak in their commitments to stop deforestation. And promises of restoration will not make up for the loss of old forests.

Each year, billions of flying and swimming migrants negotiate the challenging displacement imposed by travelling through a flowing medium. However, little is known about how the ability to cope with drift improves through life and what mechanisms drive its development. We examined 3,140 days of migration by 90 GPS-tagged raptorial black kites (Milvus migrans) aged 1–27 years to show that the ability

Histones and associated chromatin proteins have essential functions in eukaryotic genome organization and regulation. Despite this fundamental role in eukaryotic cell biology, we lack a phylogenetically comprehensive understanding of chromatin evolution. Here, we combine comparative proteomics and genomics analysis of chromatin in eukaryotes and archaea. Proteomics uncovers the existence of histone

Previous research indicates that human genetic diversity in Wallacea—islands in present-day Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste that were never part of the Sunda or Sahul continental shelves—has been shaped by complex interactions between migrating Austronesian farmers and indigenous hunter–gatherer communities. Yet, inferences based on present-day groups proved insufficient to disentangle this region’s

Archaeologist who emphasized the importance of chronology in understanding Palaeolithic Europe, and laid the framework for the archaeology of modern human origins.