Dashiell Hammett mentioned Sam Spade's jutting chin in the opening sentence of his novel, "The Maltese Falcon." Spade's chin was among the facial features Hammett used to describe his fictional detective's appearance, but ...
Evolution
Feb 11, 2026
3
353
One of the greatest mysteries of our planet is how a soup of lifeless chemicals transformed into the first living cell. There are several competing theories about where this happened, from frozen polar ice to superheated ...
Bacteria have evolved to adapt to all of Earth's most extreme conditions, from scorching heat to temperatures well below zero. Ice caves are just one of the environments hosting a variety of microorganisms that represent ...
Evolution
Feb 17, 2026
2
171
Creatures that can change from one form to another are a staple of science fiction: Think werewolves and Transformers. Nature, too, has its shapeshifters, such as dimorphic fungi. While scientists have known for some time ...
An international research team led by Dr. Lorenzo Marchetti from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin has described the oldest known impressions of reptile skin from the Thuringian Forest in central Germany. Particularly remarkable ...
Evolution
Feb 12, 2026
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94
Islands are famous for producing some of the world's strangest creatures, and now a new international study shows that the evolution of bird species on Hawaiian islands includes an ibis with unusually small eyes and limited ...
Evolution
Feb 11, 2026
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43
A newly examined prehistoric shark from the age of dinosaurs provides surprising insights into the early evolution of modern sharks. It cannot be confidently assigned to any shark order that exists today and thus calls into ...
Evolution
Feb 17, 2026
0
17
An international research team, including VUB data scientist Yannick Jadoul, has shed new light on the rhythmic nature of sexual behavior in bonobos. By precisely analyzing the tempo of movements during sex, researchers aim ...
Evolution
Feb 17, 2026
0
64
A study reveals that sticklebacks with complete bony plates have survival rates several percentage points higher than those with reduced plates, indicating ongoing natural selection. Moreover, the strength of selection appears ...
Evolution
Feb 11, 2026
0
2
Survival of the fittest. Nature red in tooth and claw. The common view of natural selection is based solely on the individual: A trait allows an organism to out-compete its rivals and is thus passed down to its offspring. ...
Evolution
Feb 17, 2026
0
2
