When we are confronted with the remarkable diversity and complexity of forms among living things—the lightweight and leathery wings of a bat, the dense networks of genes that work together to produce a functional cell—it ...
Evolution
Feb 15, 2017
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186
Evolution is often thought of as a gradual remodeling of the genome, the genetic blueprints for building an organism. But in some instance it might be more appropriate to call it an overhaul. Over the past 100 million years, ...
Biotechnology
Feb 6, 2017
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309
A number of new links between families of genes and brain size have been identified by UK scientists, opening up a whole new avenue of research to better understand brain development and diseases like dementia.
Biotechnology
Oct 5, 2016
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0
Millions of years ago, as the snake family tree grew new branches, the ancestor of modern rattlesnakes was endowed with a genetic arsenal of toxic weaponry, including genes for toxins that poison the blood, toxins that damage ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 16, 2016
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34
A University of Adelaide-led project has overturned the theory that the evolution of human intelligence was simply related to the size of the brain—but rather linked more closely to the supply of blood to the brain.
Evolution
Aug 30, 2016
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2451
Without a way to equalize the gene expression of the two sex chromosomes—males have XY and females have XX—gender could never have evolved. Scientists are still discovering many details on how the sexes came to be, but ...
Biotechnology
Jul 14, 2016
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15
The only constant is change. In evolution, there are, however, some exceptions. While the enormous diversity of life suggests that organisms are constantly being refitted with new or modified parts, many of the tools used ...
Biotechnology
Feb 9, 2016
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10
More than 145 years ago, Charles Darwin argued that Africa was the continent from which humans evolved in prehistory. We now know he was right.
Archaeology
Jun 15, 2015
1
58
A James Cook University Professor's study of silk-weaving ants is promising to change our understanding of how all creatures work together.
Plants & Animals
Jan 20, 2015
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8
The genomes of many organisms, humans included, are littered with repetitive sequences of DNA called retrotransposons. In a new "Perspective" in the journal Science, four biologists write that while most retrotransposons ...
Biotechnology
Dec 5, 2014
0
0
