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New evolutionary model revises the origins of biodiversity

An international team of scientists has made a discovery that could reshape our understanding of how global biodiversity evolved. By reconstructing the evolution of species over the past 45 million years, researchers found ...

Naked mole-rat found to have lost infection-resistant proteins

Scientists have found that the naked mole-rat—an underground rodent that lives up to 40 years—has lost a number of CD1 functional genes. The CD1 gene family in mammals is responsible for protein synthesis that protects ...

How diversity in heat tolerance can help protect coral reefs

New research out of Southern Cross University has found previously undocumented variation in coral heat tolerance on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, giving hope that corals' own genetic resources may hold the key for us to ...

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Evolution
Love island: Bird's refusal to leave resort life leads to genetic change
Evolution
Convergent evolution study sheds light on how new genes arise
Plants & Animals
New mechanism uncovered for the reduction of emu wings
Plants & Animals
Polar bears found to have diverged from brown bears just 70,000 years ago
Plants & Animals
Apes understand reasons behind each other's actions, research finds
Evolution
Early dingoes are related to dogs from New Guinea and East Asia, 3D fossil scanning study finds
Evolution
New study reveals evolution's role in ecosystem stability and tipping points
Evolution
The mammalian inner ear is a striking example of convergent evolution, new study reveals
Evolution
Highly-sensitive beaks could help albatrosses and penguins find their food
Plants & Animals
Primates bond for their own benefit: Study underlines the decisive role that females play
Evolution
Exceptional new fish fossil sparks a rethink of how Earth's geology drives evolution
Plants & Animals
Global warming is driving rapid evolutionary response in fruit flies, research suggests
Evolution
New fossil fish species scales up evidence of Earth's evolutionary march
Plants & Animals
An evolutionary battleground: Plants vs. microbes
Plants & Animals
Long stems on flowers are an adaptation that encourages bat pollination, research suggests
Evolution
Multiple ways to evolve tiny knee bone could have helped humans walk upright
Plants & Animals
New Zealand's kākāpō developed different feather colors to evade predatory birds, genome sequencing shows
Plants & Animals
How the butterfly got its pupa: Modeling study traces origins of complete metamorphosis
Evolution
Neolithic bones reveal isolated Yersinia pestis infections, not pandemics
Plants & Animals
Plant thermogenesis has played key role in attracting pollinating insects for at least 200 million years, study suggests

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Environment
Enhancing hurricane forecasts: Simulations reveal reducing estimates of atmospheric friction improves storm predictions
General Physics
From branches to loops: The physics of transport networks in nature
Bio & Medicine
Bioengineers and chemists design fluorescent 3D-printed structures with potential medical applications
Plants & Animals
Scientists use drones to track white sharks along California beaches
Optics & Photonics
Nonlinear optical metasurface achieves electrically tunable third-harmonic generation
Cell & Microbiology
How a protein keeps gene clusters quiet in the cell nucleolus
Analytical Chemistry
Chemical engineers provide new insights in CO₂ conversion with electricity
Biochemistry
Fruit juice offers a fresh take on kombucha
Earth Sciences
Ancient buried log offers evidence of biomass vaults as cheap way to store climate-warming carbon
Bio & Medicine
Laser-induced graphene sensors made affordable with stencil masking
Environment
Extreme El Niño events cause short-term CO₂ fluctuations, researchers find
General Physics
Smashing heavy ions together could produce the world's strongest electric fields
Space Exploration
Earth to capture a 'second moon' this weekend, NASA says
Molecular & Computational biology
Scientists uncover structural secrets of antiepileptic drugs
General Physics
Accelerator lab provides detailed data on the 'magic' N=50 neutron shell closure
Earth Sciences
Marine dust identifies 1.5 million year Oldest Ice near South America
Plants & Animals
Marine debris removal benefits Hawaiian monk seals and ecosystems
Economics & Business
New food safety rules may cost small and mid-sized businesses big money
Plants & Animals
Warming climates quicken aging-related mortality in mosquitoes, study finds
Condensed Matter
Discovering quasiparticles ejected from color centers in diamond crystals

Researchers discover hidden step in dinosaur feather evolution

Paleontologists at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland have discovered that some feathered dinosaurs had scaly skin like reptiles today, thus shedding new light on the evolutionary transition from scales to feathers.

When the first warm-blooded dinosaurs roamed Earth

Scientists once thought of dinosaurs as sluggish, cold-blooded creatures. Then research suggested that some could control their body temperature, but when and how that shift came about remained a mystery.