Evolution

Comparative Genomics Shows Squid Optimize DNA 'Blueprint' Through RNA Editing

Humans, worms and flies are all completely different organisms and yet we have a more or less common set of genes. Given that similar DNA blueprint, how do species develop such vast differences in physical shape, size, and complexity? One so-called "c ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 21 2015 - 7:30am

Science 2.0 Approach Finds Gephyrin Gene Underwent Rapid Evolution After Splitting In Opposite Directions

Science 2.0, a new methodology for collaboration, communication, publication and participation, has tackled the evolution of an important protein and discovered its connection in human history, as well as clues about its role in complex neurological disea ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 1 2015 - 10:30am

Darwin's ‘Strangest Animals Ever Discovered’ Solved

An evolutionary puzzle has baffled palaeontologists for more than 180 years- the origins of Toxodon platensis and Macrauchenia patachonica, South American ungulates (hooved animals) described by Charles Darwin as the ‘strangest animals ever discovered’. Pr ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2015 - 11:03am

Muscle Performance And High Altitude Adaptation In Highland Mice

Life has adapted to all sorts of extreme environments on Earth, among them, animals like the deer mouse, shimmying and shivering about, and having to squeeze enough energy from the cold, thin air to fuel their bodies and survive. In a new paper, Scott, Ch ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 8 2015 - 9:51am

Dutch Height- A Lot Has Changed In 200 Years

For being a fellow of above average height (<6'2" now- age will do that) traveling to Holland can be a strange experience. It seems like everyone is around my height. The men are tall, the women are tall.  Netherlands has the tallest people in ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 9 2015 - 7:30am

Genetic Modification Led To Maize Roots Evolving To Be More Nitrogen Efficient

Genetic modification of maize over the last century has led to desirable shoot characteristics and increased yield- and that likely contributed to the evolution of root systems that are more efficient in acquiring nutrients, such as nitrogen, from the soil ...

Article - News Staff - May 6 2015 - 11:00am

Virgin Births: Here Is Why Males Are Still Not Irrelevant

Evolution has endowed females of certain species of amphibians, reptiles and fish with the ability to clone themselves and perpetuate offspring without males. It has even happened more recently but these virgin births don't mean males are unneeded. Fe ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 17 2015 - 10:01am

Patrick Matthew, The Overlooked Third Man Of Natural Selection

Charles Darwin, for all his brilliance, was perhaps paralyzed by insecurity. There are not many other explanations for why he delayed publishing his seminal work, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoure ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 20 2015 - 10:50am

Why Invading Species Spread Fast- Evolution

Invasive plants animals and plants spreading is not new but predicting the dynamics of these invasions is difficult- and of great ecological and socioeconomical interest. Scientists at Eawag and University of Zurich are now using computer simulations and ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 22 2015 - 11:00am

Look Mom, No Eardrums- Evolution Beyond The Fossil Record

Researchers have determined that the eardrum evolved independently in mammals and diapsids- the taxonomic group that includes reptiles and birds. Published in Nature Communications, the work shows that the mammalian eardrum depends on lower jaw formation, ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 22 2015 - 3:53pm