Bdelloid rotifers are ancient, asexual, oddballs. The teeny-tiny freshwater animals have seemingly persisted without sex, and the evolutionary advantages it brings, for an estimated 25 million years.

In 2016, a study suggested that bdelloid rotifers cultivate genetic diversity by sharing DNA among themselves via horizontal transfer. But in work published today (July 12) in Current Biology, a ...

Scientists have managed to revive microscopic animals that had been frozen in the Siberian permafrost for 24,000 years. The Bdelloid rotifers, or “wheel animals” as they’re sometimes called, shook off ...

How a group of animals can abandon sex, yet produce more than 460 species over evolutionary time, became a little less mysterious this week with the publication of the complete genome of a bdelloid ...

Staying celibate can be a difficult task, but bdelloid rotifers have managed to survive without sex for nearly 50 million years. Scientists now think they have cracked the secret to these microscopic ...

In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have successfully revived microscopic frozen organisms in Siberian permafrost for 24,000 years. These ancient creatures, known as bdelloid rotifers, survived ...

The bdelloid rotifer is awake - and we're going to need to buy some more birthday candles. For the past 24,000 years, the multicellular microorganism had been snoozing in Siberian permafrost, having ...

Talk about a dry spell. Microscopic bdelloid rotifers have seemingly evolved without sex for millions of years and probably don’t exist in male form, say Harvard University biologists. The bdelloid ...

A re-analysis of sequencing data from a 2016 study of these tiny metazoans reveals possible contamination, rather than an exchange of DNA among species. A series of rodent experiments showed that even ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Bdelloid rotifers are ancient, asexual, oddballs. The teeny-tiny ...