Biological evolution is the heritable change in characteristics of biological populations over successive generations, driven by mechanisms such as mutation, recombination, genetic drift, gene flow, and natural and sexual selection. It operates through changes in allele frequencies within gene pools, constrained and shaped by developmental, physiological, and ecological contexts. Evolutionary processes generate adaptation, diversification, and extinction, producing hierarchical patterns from microevolutionary shifts within populations to macroevolutionary dynamics among lineages. At the molecular level, evolution involves sequence variation, genomic rearrangements, and changes in gene regulation, which collectively underlie phenotypic diversity and the emergence of complex biological organization.
In a study published in Science, an international research team from the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (Egypt) and the University of Southern California (U.S.) describe Masripithecus moghraensis, a newly ...
Evolution
Mar 26, 2026
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Why do animals behave differently, and what are the consequences of this? A research team from the Collaborative Research Center NC³ at Bielefeld University and the University of Münster now provides a new explanation: epigenetic ...
Evolution
Mar 25, 2026
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Infants' helplessness demonstrates unique social implications for human development. In a new paper developmental psychology researchers from the University of Ottawa explored human infants' helplessness as a key to human ...
Other
Mar 24, 2026
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Every plant cell is the product of a biological merger billions of years ago. Chloroplasts are key structures in plants and algae that capture sunlight, but originally they were free-living bacteria that took up residence ...
Evolution
Mar 24, 2026
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Like the males of many animal species, male Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies, a commonly studied lab animal, are aggressive toward one another and even fight when competing for resources such as food and females. Researchers ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 20, 2026
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Streptococcus pneumoniae is a main cause of bacterial pneumonia worldwide. It can also cause ear and sinus infections and, in more severe cases, meningitis or sepsis. It shares the human respiratory tract with many closely ...
Evolution
Mar 19, 2026
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Fear-eliciting images of modern and ancestral threats are equally likely to evoke physiological reactions, despite their distinct evolutionary origins, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS One by ...
Evolution
Mar 18, 2026
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In reptiles, a simple temperature change can determine whether an egg develops into a male or female. This process is formally known as temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), in which the sex of an embryo is determined ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 13, 2026
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The tiny Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) has always fascinated researchers because, according to the rules of evolution, it shouldn't have survived as a species, let alone thrive as a species for over 100,000 years. Using ...
Most of us have heard the phrase "it takes a village" when it comes to childcare. This age-old saying holds true for some songbirds, and a new study has found that this "village" has evolutionary consequences for their songs.
Evolution
Mar 13, 2026
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