Evolution

MRD-VP-1/1: The Face Of Lucy's Ancestor, Australopithecus Anamensis, 3.8 Million Years Ago

Discovery of a "remarkably complete" cranium  (MRD-VP-1/1, shortened to MRD) in February 2016 from a 3.8-million-year-old early human ancestor from the Woranso-Mille paleontological site, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia, represents a time ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 28 2019 - 2:32pm

Amino Acids: 1 In A Billion Or Was Biology's Optimal 'Molecular Alphabet' Preordained?

One of biology's most fundamental sets of building blocks may have special properties that helped bootstrap itself into its modern form- or it may be "cui bono?" thinking where people find an event, find a fact, and assume the fact caused th ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2019 - 9:01am

Denizens Of Deep Seas And Deep Time: Part 3: The Vampire Squid

Its deep velvety black colour, huge red eyes and a webbing of skin connecting eight arms earned this animal the name Vampyroteuthis infernalis, which literally translated means ‘Vampire squid from hell’. It is a small, deep-sea animal, neither an octopus ...

Article - Sarda Sahney - Oct 8 2019 - 10:08pm

Blood Is A Terrible Food Source- Yet Vampire Bats Thrive On It. Here's Why.

It sounds gross to humans- unless you read those "Twilight" books in which case maybe it's sexy- but a lot of animals consume blood.  That's right, even your cat familiar.  The question is why? Blood is actually a poor source of energy. ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 8 2019 - 10:15pm

What Is Sex For? It Depends On Our Vantage Point

Few topics arouse as much interest and controversy as sex. This is hardly surprising. The biological continuance of the species hinges on it – if human beings stopped having sex, there would soon be no more human beings. Popular culture overflows with sex ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 23 2019 - 9:09am

With No Evolutionary Cost, Why Not Same Sex Behavior In Animals?

Though homosexual behavior has been rewarded in over 1,000 organisms, it can be an evolutionary puzzle; since reproduction can't happen, there is a fitness cost, so why do it? ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 20 2019 - 3:25pm

How Snakes Got Their Bite But Lost Their Legs

The evolution of the snake body has captivated researchers for a long time because it represents one of the most dramatic examples of the vertebrate body's ability to adapt. A limited fossil record has obscured our understanding of their early evoluti ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 21 2019 - 9:30am

The Descent Of Man: How Darwin's Sexual Selection Co-Stars In 'The Handmaid's Tale'

The Handmaid’s Tale is a TV series based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood that presents a dystopian vision of a male-dominated society known as Gilead. Widespread infertility means that the few fertile women who remain have been ensla ...

Article - The Conversation - Jan 28 2020 - 2:27pm

The Genetic Link Between Neanderthals And Modern Africans And Europeans Is Stronger Than Ever

Neanderthal DNA sequences are more common in modern Africans than previously known, and different non-African populations have levels of Neanderthal ancestry surprisingly similar to each other, according to a new study in Cell. Researchers arrived at these ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 30 2020 - 4:56pm

Merge: Did Human Language Evolve Due To A Mutation?

Merge is a controversial belief by some that human language faculty arose in humans through a single gene mutation, rather the evolving gradually. This human burst of genetic exceptionalism is embraced by some linguists, such as Noam Chomsky, but the scien ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 21 2020 - 11:10am