by Brian P. H. Metzger The relationship between genetic code robustness and protein evolvability is unknown. A new study in PLOS Biology using in silico rewiring of genetic codes and functional protein data identified a positive correlation between code robustness and protein evolvability that is protein-specific. The relationship between...

by Masahiko Haruno How third-party individuals respond to injustices is important for resolving conflict in society. A study in PLOS Biology shows that individuals experiencing acute stress prefer to aid victims over punishing offenders, an opposite pattern to non-stress conditions. How third-party individuals respond to injustices is important...

by Hana Rozhoňová, Carlos Martí-Gómez, David M. McCandlish, Joshua L. Payne The standard genetic code defines the rules of translation for nearly every life form on Earth. It also determines the amino acid changes accessible via single-nucleotide mutations, thus influencing protein evolvability—the ability of mutation to bring forth adaptive variation...

by Huagen Wang, Xiaoyan Wu, Jiahua Xu, Ruida Zhu, Sihui Zhang, Zhenhua Xu, Xiaoqin Mai, Shaozheng Qin, Chao Liu People tend to intervene in others’ injustices by either punishing the transgressor or helping the victim. Injustice events often occur under stressful circumstances. However, how acute stress affects a third party’s intervention in injustice...

by Davide Crombie, Martin A. Spacek, Christian Leibold, Laura Busse The processing of sensory information, even at early stages, is influenced by the internal state of the animal. Internal states, such as arousal, are often characterized by relating neural activity to a single “level” of arousal, defined by a behavioral indicator such as pupil...

by Chun-Chih Tseng, Thomas E. Woolley, Ting-Xin Jiang, Ping Wu, Philip K. Maini, Randall B. Widelitz, Chuong Cheng-Ming Periodic patterning requires coordinated cell–cell interactions at the tissue level. Turing showed, using mathematical modeling, how spatial patterns could arise from the reactions of a diffusive activator-inhibitor pair in an...