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.
The fastest land animal in North America is the American pronghorn, and previously, researchers thought it evolved its speed because of pressure from the now-extinct American cheetah. But recently, that theory has come under ...
Evolution
Feb 3, 2026
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New research from the University of St Andrews has discovered a crucial piece in the puzzle of how all animals with a spine—including all mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians—evolved. In a paper published in BMC Biology, ...
Evolution
Feb 1, 2026
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Around 540 million years ago, Earth's biosphere underwent a pivotal transformation, shifting from a microbe-dominated world to one teeming with animal life, as nearly all major animal phyla appeared abruptly in the fossil ...
Evolution
Feb 1, 2026
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Scientists have uncovered a 400-million-year-old genetic secret that gave spiders the ability to produce silk and weave their webs. Spiders didn't begin their journey on Earth in the same way as they are known today. Arthropods ...
Termites are among the most successful animals on Earth, forming vast societies that can number in the millions. But how did such complex social systems evolve from solitary ancestors that looked much like today's cockroaches?
Evolution
Jan 29, 2026
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Artificial intelligence allows tracing the evolution of genetic control elements in the developing mammalian cerebellum. An international research team led by biologists from Heidelberg University as well as the Vlaams Instituut ...
Evolution
Jan 29, 2026
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Early in development, many animals pick a team—male or female—based on their genetics, and, with time, acquire the characteristics to match. New research from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) explores how one species ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 29, 2026
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Biologists have uncovered a new mode of communication inside cells that helps bacterial pathogens learn how to evade drugs. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, describe how these mechanisms drive ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 29, 2026
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Australian and New Zealand scientists have unearthed the remains of ancient wildlife in a cave near Waitomo on Aotearoa's North Island, the first time a large number of million-year-old fossils have been found—including an ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 28, 2026
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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology today announced the release of a new online tool for studying biodiversity and the evolutionary relationships among birds: the illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer. Available on ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2026
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