Evolution news
Adam's rib, revisited: Evolutionary divergence of mammalian sex chromosomes
(Phys.org) -- Males and females... Mars and Venus... XY and XX chromosomes -- all are common memes. At the same time, the evolution of therian (placental and marsupial) sex chromosomes is less widely understood. ...
Apr 18, 2012 |
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Professor examines the complex evolution of human morality
(PhysOrg.com) -- Although the question of what makes humans different from other animals doesn't have a single obvious answer, one seemingly conspicuous human trait is morality. Darwin, in his book The Descent of Man, an ...
May 19, 2010 |
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Mass Extinctions, Ancient Viruses May Hold Clues to Life’s Origins
(PhysOrg.com) -- Mass extinctions occur repeatedly, though irregularly, throughout Earth’s history, and occasionally these extinctions have been devastating to life on our planet - or have they? Extinction ...
Apr 03, 2009 |
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New study suggests polar bears evolved earlier than previously thought
(Phys.org) -- A new genetic analysis carried out by and international team of scientists has revealed that polar bears and brown bears may have diverged around 600,000 years ago, which is much earlier than ...
Apr 20, 2012 |
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In a brainless marine worm, researchers find the developmental 'scaffold' for the vertebrate brain
The origin of the exquisitely complex vertebrate brain is somewhat mysterious. "In terms of evolution, it basically pops up out of nowhere. You don't see anything anatomically like it in other animals," says ...
Mar 14, 2012 |
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Mouse to elephant? Just wait 24 million generations
Scientists have for the first time measured how fast large-scale evolution can occur in mammals, showing it takes 24 million generations for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to the size of an elephant.
Jan 30, 2012 |
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Over 65 million years North American mammal evolution has tracked with climate change
Climate changes profoundly influenced the rise and fall of six distinct, successive waves of mammal species diversity in North America over the last 65 million years, shows a novel statistical analysis led ...
Dec 26, 2011 |
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Evolution at warp speed: Hatcheries change salmon genetics after a single generation
The impact of hatcheries on salmon is so profound that in just one generation traits are selected that allow fish to survive and prosper in the hatchery environment, at the cost of their ability to thrive ...
Dec 19, 2011 |
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Experiment gives insight into how species maintain diversity
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the big problems evolutionary biologists have to wrangle with is in trying to explain why members of an individual species aren’t more alike. If say, high testosterone in males makes them more ...
Nov 18, 2011 |
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Study shows humans still evolving
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence of human evolution and rapid genetic changes suggesting that, contrary to modern claims, technological and cu ...
Oct 04, 2011 |
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Not so fast -- researchers find that lasting evolutionary change takes about one million years
In research that will help address a long-running debate and apparent contradiction between short- and long-term evolutionary change, scientists have discovered that although evolution is a constant and sometimes ...
Aug 22, 2011 |
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Butterfly study sheds light on convergent evolution
For 150 years scientists have been trying to explain convergent evolution. One of the best-known examples of this is how poisonous butterflies from different species evolve to mimic each other's color patterns – in effect ...
Jul 21, 2011 |
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Lizard fossil provides missing link in debate over snake origins
(PhysOrg.com) -- Until a recent discovery, theories about the origins and evolutionary relationships of snakes barely had a leg to stand on.
May 18, 2011 |
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Study shows evolutionary adaptations can be reversed, but rarely
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution in 1859, scientists have wondered whether evolutionary adaptations can be reversed.
May 11, 2011 |
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Robots learn to share, validating Hamilton's rule (w/ video)
Using simple robots to simulate genetic evolution over hundreds of generations, Swiss scientists provide quantitative proof of kin selection and shed light on one of the most enduring puzzles in biology: Why ...
May 03, 2011 |
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