C. Venditti

Punctuational evolution is pervasive in distal site metastatic colonization

The paper shows that metastatic tumors exhibit more punctuational molecular evolution compared to primary tumors, indicating different evolutionary modes in cancer progression.

Hominin brain size increase has emerged from within-species encephalization

This study shows that hominin brain size increase over 7 million years came from within-species changes, not between-species differences, and that this trend accelerated over time.

Co-evolutionary dynamics of mammalian brain and body size

This study investigates the co-evolution of brain and body size in mammals, finding a curvilinear relationship and variable evolutionary rates, with primates showing significant increases in relative brain size.

Trait diversity metrics can perform well with highly incomplete datasets

The paper evaluates trait diversity metrics' robustness to data incompleteness using simulated missing data and imputation methods, finding that imputation improves reliability even with high missingness.

150 million years of sustained increase in pterosaur flight efficiency

This study investigates the evolutionary increase in pterosaur flight efficiency over 150 million years, focusing on changes in locomotion energetics.

Shrinking of fish under warmer temperatures decrease dispersal abilities and speciation rates

This study shows that smaller fish in warmer waters move less and speciate less, suggesting global warming may reduce biodiversity by promoting smaller, less mobile fish.

Phenotypic reconstruction of the last universal common ancestor reveals a complex cell

This study reconstructs the phenotype of the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) using ancestral character reconstruction, finding it to be a complex prokaryotic cell with a cell wall, motility, and thermophilic traits.

Extreme and rapid bursts of functional adaptations shape bite force in amniotes

The paper identifies bursts of exceptional adaptation in bite force across amniotes using a phylogenetic statistical approach, showing rate increases in specific groups but not generally.