Evolution

Show Me The Science Month, Day 2 How do two populations change genetically when they are subjected to different evolutionary pressures? To answer this question, many intrepid evolutionary biologists have trudged out into the field to painstakingly study wi ...

Article - Michael White - Jan 28 2009 - 11:17pm

Size Matters For Plants Too

Show Me The Science Day 3 Reproduction involves some tricky trade-offs for all species, and anyone who has watched a David Attenborough film knows that you can find a wide range of reproductive strategies in nature. Some animals spend their energy producin ...

Article - Michael White - Jan 30 2009 - 1:21am

Deciphering The Tracks Of Evolution In Our Genomes

Show Me The Science Month Day 4 How did we become human? You can ask the same question in a slightly different way: how did we become different from chimps? Although the common ancestor that we shared with chimps 5-7 million years ago was not itself a chi ...

Article - Michael White - Jan 31 2009 - 4:22pm

Carnival of Evolution #8 at Biochemical Soul

Looking for more evolution blogging? Check out the eighth edition of Carnival of Evolution at Biochemical Soul. There is great stuff on fossils, genes, parasites, antibiotics, and Darwin, so head on over for a visit. ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Jan 31 2009 - 1:53pm

Even my alumni magazine is in on the Darwin anniversary

The alumni magazines that come to my house rarely get much more than a quick glance, but this month the Rochester Review has an interesting interview with H. Allen Orr, one of the leading evolutionary biologists working in the field of speciation. Orr is a ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Jan 31 2009 - 6:12pm

Hunting For Genes That Keep Species Separate

Show Me The Science Month Day 5 Speciation Genetics is, in a sense, an oxymoron. Genetics is the study of heritable characteristics, but the researchers who study speciation genetics are looking for genes that cause inheritance to fail. They are looking fo ...

Article - Michael White - Jan 31 2009 - 11:28pm

Yet Another Gene To Create Species

Show Me The Science Month Day 6 Yesterday we discussed the discovery of a gene that keeps mouse subspecies from producing fertile hybrid offspring. In other words, a gene that is putting a reproductive barrier between incipient mouse species. Scientists ha ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 1 2009 - 10:58pm

Big Chin? Better Sex? The Science Of Love And Infidelity

If you have not already chosen your new love, researchers suggest you stay away from those with big chins as they have a tendency to cheat. Researchers from four universities across the US and Canada prodded into the sexual habits of chinny and relatively ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Feb 25 2011 - 2:07pm

Poor Gene Copying And The Evolution Of New Species

Show Me The Science Month Day 7 The birth of new species always involves a barrier to cross-breeding between two different groups of the same species. This barrier may start out as a geographical barrier (two raccoon populations on different sides of a mou ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 3 2009 - 1:05pm

Jerry Coyne: A Letter To Darwin- Here's What Has Happened In The Last 150 Years

My Dear Mr. Darwin, Happy 200th birthday! I hope you are as well as can expected for someone who has been dead for nearly 130 years. I suppose that your final book, the one about earthworms, has a special significance for you these days. Are the worms of W ...

Article - Jerry Coyne - Feb 5 2009 - 5:48pm