Incest isn't a taboo in the animal kingdom, new study shows

We humans tend to regard incest as deeply disturbing. It's a strong social taboo, and it's underpinned by sound biological reasoning. Mixing genes with a non-relative is beneficial because it increases genetic diversity, ...

The entire genome from Peştera Muierii 1 sequenced

For the first time, researchers have successfully sequenced the entire genome from the skull of Peştera Muierii 1, a woman who lived in today's Romania 35,000 years ago. Her high genetic diversity shows that the out of Africa ...

Female fish develops male organs and impregnates self

(Phys.org)—A female cichlid hybrid fish has been observed to have grown male reproductive organs, impregnate itself and then to have offspring, a team of researchers in the U.K. are reporting in a paper published in the ...

Hanging in there: Koalas have low genetic diversity

A species relies on genetic diversity to survive and low diversity usually indicates that there has been inbreeding due to a decrease in population size. By looking at historic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from museum samples, ...

White tiger mystery solved

White tigers today are only seen in zoos, but they belong in nature, say researchers reporting new evidence about what makes those tigers white. Their spectacular white coats are produced by a single change in a known pigment ...

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