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 existence of ant colonies was a mystery even to the famous naturalist Charles Darwin. How could evolution produce workers that cannot reproduce? Darwin assumed that workers increase the reproductive success of their queen, ...
Evolution
Jun 24, 2025
0
31
Researchers have discovered that the genes related to extracellular matrix (ECM) and the Wnt signaling pathway characterize the independently acquired lip hypertrophy in cichlids of the East African Great Lakes. Through advanced ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 23, 2025
0
14
An international team of biologists, led by Wageningen University & Research, has demonstrated that predators have a direct and rapid influence on how prey species adapt and evolve. In a controlled experiment with guppies, ...
Evolution
Jun 23, 2025
0
32
Every day, our bodies perform around 330 billion cell divisions to keep us alive and functioning. These divisions rely on the cell cycle, which has been in place since the earliest bacteria. The principle is the same: double ...
Evolution
Jun 23, 2025
0
23
The H5N1 avian influenza virus has infected birds and mammals around the world. As of June 2025, 70 people have been infected, and one person has died in the United States. A new analysis suggests that the virus is evolving ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jun 21, 2025
1
104
The placenta and the hormones it produces may have played a crucial role in the evolution of the human brain, while also leading to the behavioral traits that have made human societies able to thrive and expand, according ...
Evolution
Jun 19, 2025
0
192
Two species of worms have retained remarkably similar patterns in the way they switch their genes on and off despite having split from a common ancestor 20 million years ago, a new study finds.
Evolution
Jun 19, 2025
0
98
In 1859, Darwin imagined evolution as a slow, gradual progress, with species accumulating small changes over time. But even he was surprised to find the fossil record offered no missing links: the intermediate forms which ...
Evolution
Jun 18, 2025
0
56
Animals, from worms and sponges to jellyfish and whales, contain anywhere from a few thousand to tens of trillions of nearly genetically identical cells. Depending on the organism, these cells arrange themselves into a variety ...
Evolution
Jun 17, 2025
0
199
New research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History sheds light on the ancient origins of biofluorescence in fishes and the range of brilliant colors involved in this biological phenomenon. Detailed in ...
Evolution
Jun 16, 2025
0
171
