The first African fossils of Devonian tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) show these pioneers of land living within the Antarctic circle, 360 million years ago.
Archaeology
Jun 7, 2018
0
221
Animals are often noted sensing signs of danger and reacting. A simple form of this phenomenon is called fear conditioning, which is a type of learning commonly seen in every animal. By manipulating the activity of specific ...
Biotechnology
Apr 25, 2018
0
6
Research published today in Nature has found that many of the viruses infecting us today have ancient evolutionary histories that date back to the first vertebrates and perhaps the first animals in existence.
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 4, 2018
0
77
Researchers reporting in Current Biology on April 2 have evidence that an extinct species of monitor lizard had four eyes, a first among known jawed vertebrates. Today, only the jawless lampreys have four eyes.
Archaeology
Apr 2, 2018
2
978
After a great mass extinction shook the world about 252 million years ago, animal life outside of the ocean began to take hold. The earliest mammals entered the scene, and reptiles—including early dinosaurs—lived on Pangea, ...
Archaeology
Mar 28, 2018
0
443
Chameleons are known to communicate with conspecifics by altering their surface coloration. Munich researchers have now found that the bony tubercles on the heads of many species fluoresce under UV light and form impressive ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 15, 2018
0
21
In biology, one long-running debate has teeth: whether ancient fish scales moved into the mouth with the origin of jaws, or if the tooth had its own evolutionary inception.
Archaeology
Nov 20, 2017
0
198
(Phys.org)—A trio of researchers with the Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences has found evidence that pushes back the earliest example of fused bones in birds by approximately ...
The development of limb muscle has been well studied in most land dwelling vertebrates such as humans and modern research models. In these species, muscle precursors, or cells that will form limb muscle, travel to the limb ...
Evolution
Oct 2, 2017
0
2
Insects and plants have an important ancient defence mechanism that helps them to fight viruses. This is encoded in their DNA. Scientists have long assumed that vertebrates - including humans - also had this same mechanism. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 15, 2017
0
22
