Male fish can thank genes for colourful looks
Striking traits seen only in males of some species – such as colourful peacock feathers or butterfly wings – are partly explained by gene behaviour, research suggests.
Evolution news
Mar 22, 2019
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A mating war in diving beetles has stopped the evolution of species
In nature, male attempts to mate with females can be so extreme that they can harm the females. Such negative impacts of mating interactions have been suggested to promote the emergence of new species under some circumstances. ...
Evidence that humans prefer genetically dissimilar partners based on scent
A team of researchers at Université Paris Diderot has found evidence that suggests humans are able to detect via smell which partners are genetically preferable. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society ...
Researchers find Americans set their thermostat to match African environmental temperatures
Nature hits rewind: Research predicts what makes evolution go backwards
The study of evolution is revealing new complexities, showing how the traits most beneficial to the fitness of individual plants and animals are not always the ones we see in nature.
Study finds natural selection favors cheaters
Expansion of transposable elements offers clue to genetic paradox
Species often experience a genetic bottleneck that diminishes genetic variation after speciation or introduction into a new area. Though bottlenecks in population size always reduce fitness and evolutionary potential, introduced ...
Mammals' unique arms started evolving before the dinosaurs existed
Bats fly, whales swim, gibbons swing from tree to tree, horses gallop, and humans swipe on their phones—the different habitats and lifestyles of mammals rely on our unique forelimbs. No other group of vertebrate animals ...
Alligator study reveals insight into dinosaur hearing
To determine where a sound is coming from, animal brains analyze the minute difference in time it takes a sound to reach each ear—a cue known as interaural time difference. What happens to the cue once the signals get to ...
Tasty or putrid? A repellent odor inhibits the perception of a pleasant odor in vinegar flies
In nature, vinegar flies are exposed to a wide variety of odor mixtures, which contain both attractive and repellent odors. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology have now discovered that repellent odors ...
