Evolution

Sex, Genes, The Y Chromosome And The Future Of Men

The human Y chromosome has retained only 3% of its ancestral genes. So why is it a shadow of its former self? Rafael Anderson Gonzales Mendoza /Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA By Jenny Graves, La Trobe University The Y chromosome, that little chain of genes that dete ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 14 2014 - 3:00pm

The Evolutionary Constraints Of Fish Skulls

Most people think that biting is the way that aquatic creatures capture prey. Not so, instead suction is far more common. That is why the diversity of skull shapes in biters is so much greater, according to a new study. Suction feeding limits skulls shape ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 17 2014 - 10:48am

PIWI Pathway Isn't Perfect But It's What Keeps Transposons From Destroying Your Genes

We like to think of evolution as a fine-tuning process, one that whittles away genetic imperfections and redundancies and converges on a more efficient system because of 'survival of the fittest'. But natural selection is just one mechanism of e ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 18 2014 - 9:00am

Self-Defense For Insect Eggs

Insects are the most diverse group of animals on earth. They inhabit nearly all terrestrial habitats. One of the factors underlying this success is the ability of insect eggs to survive in adverse conditions. For a long time the ability to survive these a ...

Article - Chris Jacobs - Sep 1 2015 - 7:22am

Blind Scottish Centipede Reveals How Venomous Carnivores Evolved

Usually blind sages revealing the secrets of the universe are Asian. Scotland doesn't get enough respect that way but a centipede is defying the stereotype. Arthropods are one of Earth's real success stories, with more species than any other ani ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 25 2014 - 3:47pm

Small Namibian Tribe Has Genome Of 150,000 Years Ago

In the last 20,000 years, Europeans and Asians became numerous and their descendants now comprise the bulk of our 7 billion population. Prior to that, for 130,000 years, the Khoisan (they call themselves Bushmen), of Namibia reigned supreme. Their lifesty ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 4 2014 - 3:06pm

Evolution Is Furthering Mutations That Are Making Us Whiter

Skin color varies according to latitude and therefore by the intensity of incident ultraviolet light; according to biologists, that is why individuals living at low latitudes developed darker skin, whereas those living at high latitudes ended up with paler ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 6 2014 - 11:44am

Origin Of Eukaryotic Cells Gets A New Hypothesis

All complex life, including plants, animals and fungi, consists if of eukaryotic cells, cells with a nucleus, transport mechanisms and often organelles like mitochondria that perform the functions an organism needs to stay alive and healthy. Humans have 2 ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 13 2014 - 1:30pm

Not Built For Battle: Our Lightweight Skeletons Have Recent Origins

Modern human skeletons, with our lightly-built form, evolved only relatively recently, after the start of the Holocene about 12,000 years ago and even more recently in some human populations, according to a study that used high-resolution imaging of bone ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 26 2014 - 5:30pm

Spotted Gar Genome Confirms Ancient Relationship Between Fins And Hands

The evolutionary adaptations of ancient lobe-finned fish transformed pectoral fins used underwater into strong, bony structures that enabled emerging tetrapods, animals with limbs, to allow them crawl in shallow water or on land.  The disconnect between p ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 23 2014 - 1:01pm