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Evolution news
Warblers borrow color-related genes from evolutionary neighbors, study finds
Wood warblers, also called New World warblers, are some of the most colorful birds in North America, with more than a hundred species in the family ranging in color from yellow, orange and red to blue, green and pink. A new ...
Evolution
19 minutes ago
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Infrared radiation may be one of the most ancient plant signals to pollinating insects
Harvard researchers have discovered that cycads—one of the oldest living lineages of seed plants—heat up their reproductive organs to attract beetle pollinators and the insects possess infrared sensors to detect these ...
Evolution
19 minutes ago
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Biobanking opens new windows into human evolution
More than a decade after the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced, scientists are still working to understand how human-specific DNA changes shaped human evolution.
Evolution
Dec 10, 2025
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Cats' purrs reveal who's who better than their meows
A new study by researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the University of Naples Federico II shows a domestic cat's purr reveals far more about its individual identity than its meow. While meows are highly flexible ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 10, 2025
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The evolutionary mysteries of a rare parasitic plant: Shrinking plastids and strange reproductive strategies
At the base of mossy trees, deep in the mountains of Taiwan and mainland Japan or nestled in the subtropical forests of Okinawa, grows what most might mistake for a mushroom—but it is actually a very unique plant with some ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 10, 2025
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Humans rank between meerkats and beavers in monogamy 'league table'
Humans are far closer to meerkats and beavers for levels of exclusive mating than we are to most of our primate cousins, according to a new University of Cambridge study that includes a table ranking monogamy rates in various ...
Evolution
Dec 9, 2025
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Triturus newts reveal a genetic balancing act
An evolutionary "trap" has haunted crested and marbled newts for 25 million years: Leiden researchers have uncovered a mysterious DNA error that should not be able to arise—yet persists all the same. How is that possible? ...
Evolution
Dec 9, 2025
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Olfaction written in bones: New insights into the evolution of the sense of smell in mammals
The sense of smell is vital for animals, as it helps them find food, protect themselves from predators and interact socially. An international research team led by Dr. Quentin Martinez and Dr. Eli Amson from the State Museum ...
Evolution
Dec 8, 2025
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Engineering analysis of Thrinaxodon fossils uncovers unexpectedly advanced hearing in early mammal kin
One of the most important steps in the evolution of modern mammals was the development of highly sensitive hearing. The middle ear of mammals, with an eardrum and several small bones, allows us to hear a broad range of frequencies ...
Evolution
Dec 8, 2025
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Parasitic fungus may have emerged 18 million years before the ants with which it lives today
A genus of fungi previously considered a parasite of fungi associated with ants may actually have much more complex ecological functions. According to a study published in the journal Communications Biology, one piece of ...
Evolution
Dec 8, 2025
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An ancient genetic switch that lets plants grow, adapt and survive
A team of scientists from Monash University has identified a single gene in a land plant that could help explain how plants first evolved the ability to grow continuously, a key trait that allowed them to colonize dry land ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 8, 2025
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Human-cat friendship started much later than you think
A research team led by Professor Luo Shujin from the School of Life Sciences has uncovered a surprising chapter in the history of cats in China. Through ancient DNA sequencing of feline remains spanning more than 5,000 years, ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 5, 2025
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Jaw versatility enabled the ecological success of amniotes, paleontologists find
New research conducted by paleontologists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin reveals a burst in jaw variety in the earliest amniotes—which includes the ancestors of all reptiles, ...
Evolution
Dec 4, 2025
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Waste management in spider mites reveals evolutionary insights into arthropod social behavior
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have discovered the adaptive significance of the remarkable waste-management behavior in the social spider mite Stigmaeopsis longus, a tiny herbivorous arthropod that lives in cooperative ...
Evolution
Dec 4, 2025
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Brain-like features in sea urchin larvae reveal light-dependent behavior
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have identified a brain-like cluster of neurons in sea urchin larvae, traditionally considered lacking a brain, that regulates light-responsive behavior. The work is published in the journal ...
Evolution
Dec 4, 2025
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Bat study shows motherhood comes with a cost, but not for all
Is it better to have children early or later in life, and does parenthood accelerate aging? Researchers at University College Dublin and the University of Bristol have tackled these questions by studying an exceptional population ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 4, 2025
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Embryos show specialized asymmetry at the earliest stage
As nearly one in six couples experience fertility issues, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is an increasingly common form of reproductive technology. However, there are still many unanswered scientific questions about the basic ...
Evolution
Dec 3, 2025
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10-thousand-year-old genomes from southern Africa change picture of human evolution
In southern Africa, a group of people lived in partial isolation for hundreds of thousands of years. This is shown in a new study based on analyses of the genomes of 28 people who lived between 10,200 and 150 years ago in ...
Evolution
Dec 3, 2025
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Complex life developed nearly 1 billion years earlier than previously thought, study reveals
Complex life began to develop earlier, and over a longer span of time, than previously believed, a new study has revealed. The research sheds new light on the conditions needed for early organisms to evolve and challenges ...
Evolution
Dec 3, 2025
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Epigenetics linked to high-altitude adaptation in Andes
DNA sequencing technology makes it possible to explore the genome to learn how humans adapted to live in a wide range of environments. Research has shown, for instance, that Tibetans living at high altitude in the Himalayas ...
Evolution
Dec 3, 2025
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Orca tail dolphins to hunt salmon—and may share the catch
