Evolution

The Origin Of Our Centralized Nervous System

The rise of the central nervous system (CNS) in animal evolution has puzzled scientists for centuries. Vertebrates, insects and worms evolved from the same ancestor, but their CNSs are different and were thought to have evolved only after their lineages h ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 20 2007 - 3:30pm

Can Complicated Structures Re-evolve?

Lizards gave rise to legless snakes. Cave fishes don’t have eyeballs. In evolution, complicated structures often get lost. Dollo’s Law states that complicated structures can't be re-evolved because the genes that code for them were lost or have mutat ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 24 2007 - 10:52am

Human-chimp Gene Study Upsets Long-held View

Put a human and a chimpanzee side by side, and it seems obvious which lineage has changed the most since the two diverged from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Such apparent physical differences, along with human speech, language and brainpower, h ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 26 2007 - 4:26pm

Bears Hunt Belugas

Polar bears live a feast and famine lifestyle. They are large animals (an adult males weighs 300-600kg) that live in the freezing tundra so they have huge metabolic needs. They normally prey on ringed seals but will eat almost anything they can catch, inc ...

Article - Sarda Sahney - Apr 27 2007 - 4:02am

Ape Gestures Offer Clues To The Evolution Of Human Communication

Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have found bonobos and chimpanzees use manual gestures of their hands, feet and limbs more flexibly than they do facial expressions and vocalizations, further supporting the evol ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 30 2007 - 5:15pm

Sexual Arms Race: The Co-evolution Of Genitalia

A team of biologists at Yale University and the University of Sheffield discovered anatomical details about the female reproductive tract in waterfowl that indicate that male and female anatomy have co-evolved in a "sexual arms race." ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 30 2007 - 8:43pm

T. Rex Ate Coconuts

A new museum in Petersburg, Kentucky greets visitors with a 20ft tall tumbling waterfall and at its base, mannequins of frolicking children play amongst dinosaurs. The Creation Museum, which cost $25 million to build, is home to many unusual sites: a dior ...

Article - Sarda Sahney - Jun 11 2007 - 11:02am

Darwin Among Republican Presidential Contenders

One third of the Republican presidential candidates, when asked in their recent debate whether they believed evolution, admitted that they don't buy it. The blogosphere has already said much about this, and today the NY Times picks up the story. The N ...

Article - Michael White - May 6 2007 - 1:17am

Prehistoric Barbie

A letter, supposedly sent to the Smithsonian Institute. Hilarious! Paleoanthropology Division Smithsonian Institute 207 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20078 Dear Sir: ...

Article - Sarda Sahney - May 9 2007 - 5:11am

Evolutionary Forces Explain Why Women Live Longer Than Men

Despite research efforts to find modern factors that would explain the different life expectancies of men and women, the gap is actually ancient and universal, according to University of Michigan researchers. "Women live longer in almost every country ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2007 - 11:43pm