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Evolution news
Scientists uncover key mechanism in evolution: Whole-genome duplication drives long-term adaptation
Sometimes, the most significant scientific discoveries happen by accident. Scientists have long known that whole-genome duplication (WGD)—the process by which organisms copy all their genetic material—plays an important ...
Evolution
6 hours ago
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Why humans have smaller faces than Neanderthals
The human face is strikingly distinct from our fossil cousins and ancestors—most notably, it is significantly smaller, and more gracile. However, the reasons behind this change remain largely unknown. A team of researchers ...
Evolution
8 hours ago
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The interplay of two genes illuminates how the large human brain evolved
Researchers from the German Primate Center—Leibniz Institute for Primate Research and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics have discovered two specific genes that evolve exclusively in humans ...
Evolution
9 hours ago
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After 80 years of stumping scientists, strange Philippine frog unmasked as hybrid
Evolutionary biologists working in the Philippines have long puzzled over a hard-to-find amphibian mystery: the Leyte Chorus Frog. It's a small, ground-dwelling frog from Leyte Island in the Visayan province of the eastern ...
Plants & Animals
10 hours ago
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How scratching monkeys can help us understand emotions and consciousness
Scientists Sakumi Iki and Ikuma Adachi recently spent a lot of time watching monkeys scratch themselves.
Plants & Animals
11 hours ago
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Undergrads uncover ancient secrets of human immunity
Three Husker students under the mentorship of Luwen Zhang, a leading University of Nebraska-Lincoln virologist, have achieved a rare feat for undergraduates.
Evolution
15 hours ago
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Plants 'breathe' with millions of tiny mouths—lasers illuminate evolution of stomata behavior
Plant behavior may seem rather boring compared with the frenetic excesses of animals. Yet the lives of our vegetable friends, who tirelessly feed the entire biosphere (including us), are full of exciting action. It just requires ...
Evolution
Mar 25, 2025
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Scientists uncover how enzymes evolved to function at low temperatures
Life has evolved over billions of years, adapting to the changing environment. Similarly, enzymes—proteins that speed up biochemical reactions (catalysis) in cells—have adapted to the habitats of their host organisms. ...
Evolution
Mar 25, 2025
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Radioisotopic ages of newly discovered fossil sites hold clues to evolution of mammals
Anatolia, the western part of modern-day Turkey that sits at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, is a fossil-rich land crucial to unlocking the mysteries surrounding the evolution of mammals over the last 10 million ...
Mountains as biodiversity engines: How uplift may shape species evolution
A new study co-authored by researchers at Indiana University sheds light on how the forces that shape mountain ranges also influence the evolution of species. In the study, "Direct effects of mountain uplift and topography ...
Evolution
Mar 24, 2025
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Biologists discover ancient neurohormone that controls appetite
A team of biologists at Queen Mary University of London has discovered that a neurohormone controlling appetite in humans has an ancient evolutionary origin, dating back over half a billion years. The findings, published ...
Evolution
Mar 24, 2025
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'Chimpanzee 'engineers' have implications for understanding human technological evolution
A multidisciplinary team of researchers led by Dr. Alejandra Pascual-Garrido, Research Affiliate at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, has discovered that chimpanzees living in Gombe ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 24, 2025
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How dramatic daily swings in oxygen shaped early animal life
Imagine a world where the oxygen you need changes dramatically between day and night. Your world shifts from being rich in oxygen (oxic) in the day, so you have energy to hunt for food, to suffocatingly oxygen-free (anoxic) ...
Evolution
Mar 24, 2025
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Nature's time machine: How long-term studies unlock evolution's secrets
Georgia Tech scientists are revealing how decades-long research programs have transformed our understanding of evolution, from laboratory petri dishes to tropical islands—along the way uncovering secrets that would remain ...
Evolution
Mar 24, 2025
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Evolution: Features that help in finding a mate may lead to smaller brains
A longstanding question in evolutionary biology is how sexual selection influences how entire genomes develop. Sexual selection is where individuals with certain traits have higher reproductive success, leading to the spread ...
Evolution
Mar 22, 2025
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Origin of life: How a special group of single-celled organisms laid the foundation for complex cells
Ten years ago, nobody knew that Asgard archaea even existed. In 2015, however, researchers examining deep-sea sediments discovered gene fragments that indicated a new and previously undiscovered form of microbes.
Evolution
Mar 21, 2025
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Deadly bacteria have developed the ability to produce antimicrobials and wipe out competitors, scientists discover
A drug-resistant type of bacteria that has adapted to health care settings evolved in the past several years to weaponize an antimicrobial genetic tool, eliminating its cousins and replacing them as the dominant strain. University ...
Evolution
Mar 21, 2025
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Cloaked in color: Research finds some female hummingbirds evolve male plumage to dodge aggression
Why do humans wear clothes? One reason is that changing outfits allows people to tailor their look in hopes of attracting or avoiding attention. New research led by the University of Washington found that hummingbirds may ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 20, 2025
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151
From dinosaurs to birds: The origins of feather formation
Feathers are among the most complex cutaneous appendages in the animal kingdom. While their evolutionary origin has been widely debated, paleontological discoveries and developmental biology studies suggest that feathers ...
Evolution
Mar 20, 2025
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They'd rather die: The lesson that male roundworms refuse to learn
In human society, men tend to be seen as risk-takers, while women are seen as being more cautious. According to evolutionary psychologists, this difference developed in the wake of threats to each sex and their respective ...
Evolution
Mar 20, 2025
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More news
Gorillas match chimpanzees in self-awareness study
Koalas in Queensland show unique immunity to deadly retrovirus
A new name for one of the world's rarest rhinoceroses
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The hidden hand of medieval female scribes
Partial solar eclipse in northern areas on Saturday
A breakthrough moment: Researchers discover new class of antibiotics
Zooming in on the structure of the lethal Ebola virus
Giant claw unearthed in Mongolia belongs to a new species of two-fingered dinosaur
Novel protocol enables photon entanglement without quantum measurement
