Research News and Press Releases

Kiel Life Science has recognised outstanding early-career researchers at this year’s annual meeting – among them Dr Nikhil Sharma from our institute. His award highlights the strength and impact of his research in theoretical evolutionary biology. more

How positional programs in embryonic mesenchyme shape the individual human face – and open new paths to understanding craniofacial disorders. more

Eleven researchers in northern Germany rank among the world’s most cited scientists more

Dr Christin Nyhoegen was awarded the 2025 KlarText Prize for Science Communication in the category of Mathematics on 13 November in Heidelberg. more

A team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology has discovered a new class of bacterial mobile genetic elements that use giant viruses—known as jumbo phages—to move between cells. The work, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), uncovers an unexpected twist in the long-running arms race between bacteria and their viruses. more

A new study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön and the Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center at Peking University in Beijing, China, shows that our organs form a mosaic of sex-specific characteristics – far removed from the strict division into ‘male’ and ‘female’.
  more

Researchers explore whether growing human–AI interdependence could mark the next major step in evolution. more