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Evolution news
Study adds new sea cucumber species to the research toolbox
Scientists have a handful of standard research organisms, including fruit flies and mice, that they use to study the evolutionary development (evo-devo) of animal lineages over time. Yet the more research organisms they can ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 7, 2024
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Fish out of water: How killifish embryos adapt their development
The annual killifish lives in regions with extreme drought. A research group at the University of Basel now reports in Science that the early embryogenesis of killifish diverges from that of other species. Unlike other fish, ...
Evolution
Jun 6, 2024
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Marsupials key to discovering the origin of heater organs in mammals
Around 100 million years ago, a remarkable evolutionary shift allowed placental mammals to diversify and conquer many cold regions of our planet. New research from Stockholm University shows that the typical mammalian heater ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 6, 2024
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The importance of the paradise fish in evolutionary and behavioral genetics research
In Hungary, ethological research is most often identified with tests on dogs, but novel methodological advances could bring another species, the paradise fish, into the spotlight. Fish are easy to handle and produce numerous ...
Evolution
Jun 5, 2024
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How symbiotic bacteria adapt to big environmental changes
Studying the impact of the environment on animal evolution is no easy task, as most animals reproduce slowly and exhibit complex behaviors. However, microbiologists have an advantage: Bacteria reproduce rapidly, which makes ...
Evolution
Jun 4, 2024
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Food, not sex, drove the evolution of giraffes' long neck, new study finds
Why do giraffes have such long necks? A study led by Penn State biologists explores how this trait might have evolved and lends new insight into this iconic question. The reigning hypothesis is that competition among males ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 3, 2024
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How sharks survived a major spike in Earth's temperature
The sharks we know today as the open ocean's top predators evolved from stubby bottom dwellers during a dramatic episode of global warming millions of years ago.
Plants & Animals
Jun 3, 2024
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Novel technique uncovers clues to disappearance of North America's large mammals 50,000 years ago
50,000 years ago, North America was ruled by megafauna. Lumbering mammoths roamed the tundra, while forests were home to towering mastodons, fierce saber-toothed tigers and enormous wolves. Bison and extraordinarily tall ...
Evolution
May 31, 2024
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Biologist calls for protection and more studies of natural time capsules of climate change
Packrats, also known as woodrats, are the original hoarders, collecting materials from their environment to make their nests, called middens. In deserts throughout western North America, for instance, packrat middens can ...
Evolution
May 30, 2024
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Tracing the evolution of ferns' surprisingly sweet defense strategy
Plants and the animals that eat them have evolved together in fascinating ways, creating a dynamic interplay of survival strategies. Many plants have developed physical and chemical defenses to fend off herbivores. A well-known ...
Plants & Animals
May 30, 2024
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Study shows cuckoos evolve to look like their hosts—and form new species in the process
The theory of coevolution says that when closely interacting species drive evolutionary changes in each other this can lead to speciation—the evolution of new species. But until now, real-world evidence for this has been ...
Evolution
May 30, 2024
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194
Evolutionary biologist suggests human brain grew as energy was freed from ovarian follicles
Mauricio González-Forero, an evolutionary biologist at the University of St Andrews, in the U.K., is proposing a new theory to explain the massive growth of the human brain over its evolutionary history.
Symbiosis study exposes new 'origin' theories, identifies experimental systems for plant life
A Mississippi State faculty member's work on plant life symbiosis—a mutually beneficial relationship between living organisms—is pushing back against the newer theory of "single-origin"—that all life stems from one ...
Evolution
May 29, 2024
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Study reveals maintenance of male-related genes after loss of males in stick insects
Traits are often lost during evolution, either because they are no longer beneficial or because they are too costly to maintain. When this happens, it is generally believed that the genes underlying the trait will eventually ...
Evolution
May 29, 2024
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'Living fossils' are unique, not ancient, say researchers
The new measure, termed "evolutionary heritage," highlights the importance of unique species traits—which include physiological adaptations, like beak variations in different birds—when assessing the richness and complexity ...
Evolution
May 29, 2024
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Some species may better tolerate climate change than expected
A new model, developed by Ifremer and Lausanne University researchers and published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, reassesses the proportion of terrestrial and marine species threatened with extinction by climate ...
Evolution
May 29, 2024
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Researchers cataloging plant species are trying to decipher what makes some groups so successful
Irish researchers involved in cataloging the world's plant species are hunting for answers as to what makes some groups so successful.
Plants & Animals
May 29, 2024
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Scientists pit primates against smaller-brained mammals to find out who is the smartest forager
Primates, including humans, have larger brains than most other mammals, but why? Scientists searching for the answer have long followed a trail pointing to diet—specifically fruit—as the reason for why primates evolved ...
Plants & Animals
May 28, 2024
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Small birds boast range of flight styles thanks to evolutionary edge
Small birds have explored a wide variety of styles of flight, ranging from hovering hummingbirds to bounding sparrows to soaring swifts and swallows. A new Cornell University study could explain why.
Plants & Animals
May 28, 2024
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Florida fossil porcupine solves a prickly dilemma 10 million years in the making
There's a longstanding debate simmering among biologists who study porcupines. There are 16 porcupine species in Central and South America, but only one in the United States and Canada. DNA evidence suggests North America's ...
Evolution
May 28, 2024
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More news
Other news
Siberia's 'mammoth graveyard' reveals 800-year human interactions with woolly beasts
Novel quantum sensor breaks limits of optical measurement using entanglement
New insights on the role of nucleon exchange in nuclear fusion
First detection of frost on the solar system's tallest volcanoes on Mars
Study reveals complex dynamics of philanthropic funding for US science
New imaging device combines education and microbial research
Elephants have names for each other like people do, new study shows
