http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The ancestors of the simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) that jumped from chimpanzees and monkeys, and ignited the HIV/AIDS pandemic in humans, have been dated to just a few centuries ago. These ages are substantially younger than previous estimates, according to a new study from The University of Arizona in Tucson, published May 1st in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology. http://phys.org/news160385953.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 May 2009 08:39:49 EST news160385953 (PhysOrg.com) -- Bursts of star making in a galaxy have been compared to a Fourth of July fireworks display: They occur at a fast and furious pace, lighting up a region for a short time before winking out. http://phys.org/news160318098.html Space & Earth Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:48:50 EST news160318098 As described in an article published this week in an advance, online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the work demonstrates some of the classic principles of evolution. For instance, research shows that when different species directly compete for the same finite resource, only the fittest will survive. The work also demonstrates how, when given a variety of resources, the different species will evolve to become increasingly specialized, each filling different niches within their common ecosystem. http://phys.org/news160231764.html Biology Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:50:00 EST news160231764 For two decades, researchers have been using a growing volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one ancestral Asian population or a number of different populations. http://phys.org/news160214945.html Biology Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:10:09 EST news160214945 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer Mission marks its sixth anniversary studying galaxies beyond our Milky Way through its sensitive ultraviolet telescope, the only such far-ultraviolet detector in space. http://phys.org/news160161119.html Space & Earth Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:12:47 EST news160161119 (PhysOrg.com) -- Living beings and inanimate phenomena may have more in common than previously thought. http://phys.org/news160153064.html Biology Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:58:33 EST news160153064 A new study challenges long-standing expectations that men are promiscuous and women tend to be more particular when it comes to choosing a mate. The research, published by Cell Press in the April issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, suggests that human mating strategies are not likely to conform to a single universal pattern and provides important insights that may impact future investigations of human mating behaviors. http://phys.org/news159799620.html Biology Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:47:42 EST news159799620 Charles Darwin was fascinated by the colours of animals - he once wrote to his colleague Alfred Russell Wallace asking why certain animals were "so beautifully and artistically coloured". http://phys.org/news159108734.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:53:14 EST news159108734 Jeremy M. DeSilva an anthropologist at Worcester University in Massachusetts has published "Functional Morphology of the Ankle and the Likelihood of Climbing in Early Hominins," in the peer-reviewed journal, Proceeding of the National Academies of Sciences of the USA current issue. The study includes data gathered by DeSilva in Uganda's Kibale National Park of modern chimpanzee and comparisons of hominin fossil skeletal remains dating back some 4.12 million to 1.53 million years ago. The findings appear to show that if early hominins depended on tree climbing as part of their survival repertoire, they were performing it decidedly different from modern chimpanzee locomotor activity. http://phys.org/news159038272.html Biology Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:18:32 EST news159038272 Once thought to be only the realm of the blue-ringed octopus, researchers have now shown that all octopuses and cuttlefish, and some squid are venomous. The work indicates that they all share a common, ancient venomous ancestor and highlights new avenues for drug discovery. http://phys.org/news159014369.html Biology Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:40:03 EST news159014369 We're not finished yet. Even today, scientists say that human beings are continuing to evolve as our genes respond to rapid changes in the world around us. In fact, the pressures of modern life may be speeding up the pace of human evolution, some anthropologists think. http://phys.org/news158839250.html Biology Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:01:44 EST news158839250 A team led by an Indiana University astronomer has found a sample of massive galaxies with properties that suggest that they may have formed relatively recently. This would run counter to the widely-held belief that massive, luminous galaxies (like our own Milky Way Galaxy) began their formation and evolution shortly after the Big Bang, some 13 billion years ago. Further research into the nature of these objects could open new windows into the study of the origin and early evolution of galaxies. http://phys.org/news158585134.html Space & Earth Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:26:04 EST news158585134 Axel Barlow's paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on saw-scaled vipers shows that snakes which have evolved to feed on scorpions have also evolved venom which is more lethal to scorpions, demonstrating that changes in diet have been an important factor in snake venom evolution. http://phys.org/news158422449.html Biology Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:15:00 EST news158422449 (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 events have sometimes accelerated the evolution of life on earth by eliminating old dominating species and making room for new ones. A new study takes this idea a step further, showing that life may have never achieved the complexity necessary for the development of advanced multi-cellular organisms without recurring extinction events. http://phys.org/news157973463.html Biology Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:31:31 EST news157973463 After three all-day meetings and a blizzard of amendments and counter-amendments, the Texas Board of Education cast its final vote Friday on state science standards. The results weren't pretty. http://phys.org/news157728177.html Other Sciences Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:23:30 EST news157728177 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Penn State and the National Institute of Genetics in Japan have demonstrated that several statistical methods commonly used by biologists to detect natural selection at the molecular level tend to produce incorrect results. "Our finding means that hundreds of published studies on natural selection may have drawn incorrect conclusions," said Masatoshi Nei, Penn State Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and the team's leader. The team's results will be published in the Online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week ending Friday 3 April 2009 and also in the journal's print edition at a later date. http://phys.org/news157648673.html Biology Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:18:28 EST news157648673 (AP) -- Texas will no longer require educators to teach weaknesses of all scientific theories, including evolution. http://phys.org/news157356139.html Other Sciences Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:52:11 EST news157356139 (AP) -- Tensions over the teaching of evolution are simmering as the State Board of Education begins the final stretch in the process of adopting new classroom science curriculum standards. http://phys.org/news157290453.html Other Sciences Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:48:37 EST news157290453 A new study by Brigham Young University researchers on the virus behind nearly half of all cold infections explains how and where evolution occurs in the rhinovirus genome and what this means for possible vaccines. http://phys.org/news156436585.html Biology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:37:19 EST news156436585 A Rice University study of microbes from a Houston-area cow pasture has confirmed once again that everything is bigger in Texas, even the single-celled stuff. The tests revealed the first-ever report of a large, natural colony of amoebae clones -- a Texas-sized expanse measuring at least 12 meters across. http://phys.org/news156000141.html Biology Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:22:48 EST news156000141 A new study of proteins, the molecular machines that drive all life, also sheds light on the history of living organisms. http://phys.org/news155940241.html Biology Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:44:33 EST news155940241 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered that a long-defunct gene was resurrected during the course of human evolution. This is believed to be the first evidence of a doomed gene - infection-fighting human IRGM - making a comeback in the human/great ape lineage. http://phys.org/news155563245.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:01:22 EST news155563245 (Physorg.com) -- Although ecologists expect many species will be harmed by climate change, some species could be buffered by their potential to evolve or by changes in their surrounding ecosystems. http://phys.org/news155490287.html Biology Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:45:23 EST news155490287 A female moth selects a mate based on the scent of his pheromones. An analysis of the pheromones used by the European Corn Borer (ECB, Ostrinia nubilalis), featured in the open access journal BMC Biology, shows that females can discern a male's ancestry, age and possibly reproductive fitness from the chemical cocktail he exudes. http://phys.org/news155283044.html Biology Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:11:31 EST news155283044 Mendel solved the logic of inheritance in his monastery garden with no more technology than Darwin had in his garden at Down House. So why couldn't Darwin have done it too? A Journal of Biology article argues that Darwin's background, influences and research focus gave him a viewpoint that prevented him from interpreting the evidence that was all around him, even in his own work. http://phys.org/news154958022.html Biology Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:55:27 EST news154958022 In everyday language, people sometimes say that immoral behaviours "leave a bad taste in your mouth". But this may be more than a metaphor according to new scientific evidence from the University of Toronto that shows a link between moral disgust and more primitive forms of disgust related to poison and disease. http://phys.org/news154880780.html Medicine & Health Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:26:57 EST news154880780 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that an ancient system of communication found in primitive bacteria, may also explain how plants and algae control the process of photosynthesis. http://phys.org/news154767490.html Biology Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:58:47 EST news154767490 Charles Darwin is widely thought to have developed his natural selection theory of evolution after noting differences among finches in the Galapagos Islands. http://phys.org/news153932038.html Biology Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:54:19 EST news153932038 Diet - and how it has shaped our genome - occupies much of an evolutionary scientist's time. Anne Stone, associate professor of anthropology in Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change, will discuss how diet holds keys to understanding who we are, how we live and form societies, and how we evolved from hunter-gatherers to agriculturists, all the way to modern urban dwellers, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in her seminar - "Genetic Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Diets". http://phys.org/news153675034.html Biology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:31:31 EST news153675034 (PhysOrg.com) -- Roughly 10 million years ago, a major genetic change occurred in a common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans. Segments of DNA in its genome began to form duplicate copies at a greater rate than in the past, creating an instability that persists in the genome of modern humans and contributes to diseases like autism and schizophrenia. But that gene duplication also may be responsible for a genetic flexibility that has resulted in some uniquely human characteristics. http://phys.org/news153580868.html Biology Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:21:49 EST news153580868