Evolution, as a scientific topic, encompasses the study of heritable change in populations of organisms over successive generations, driven primarily by mechanisms such as mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, gene flow, and recombination. It investigates how genetic variation arises and is differentially propagated, leading to adaptation, speciation, and macroevolutionary patterns observable in phylogenies and the fossil record. Research in this area integrates population genetics, comparative genomics, quantitative genetics, and developmental biology to elucidate processes shaping genetic architecture, fitness landscapes, and phenotypic diversity, as well as the tempo and mode of evolutionary change across different ecological and genomic contexts.
Television nature programs and scientific papers tend to celebrate the perfection of evolved traits. But the father of evolution through natural selection, Charles Darwin, warned that evolution would produce quirks and "blunders" ...
Ecology
Oct 2, 2025
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For decades, scientists have known that bacteria can exchange genetic material, in a process called horizontal gene transfer. This allows bacteria to rapidly evolve new traits, such as antibiotic resistance. A new study, ...
Evolution
Sep 25, 2025
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A genomic analysis of over 1,200 people from across South Africa reveals how colonial-era European, Indigenous Khoe-San peoples, and enslaved people contributed to the modern-day gene pool in South Africa.
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 23, 2025
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A scaling law relates the expected number of mutants to the total population size of cells in a spatially constrained but growing population, which could help clinicians predict when cancers or bacterial infections might ...
Evolution
Sep 23, 2025
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Through a collaboration between U.S. and Kenyan researchers and Turkana communities of northern Kenya, scientists have uncovered key genetic adaptations underlying survival in hot and dry environments, revealing how natural ...
Evolution
Sep 18, 2025
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A team of researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has uncovered how a common color variation in frogs has helped them thrive and diversify for millions of years.
Evolution
Sep 16, 2025
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Researchers at the University of Maine are theorizing that human beings may be in the midst of a major evolutionary shift—driven not by genes, but by culture.
Evolution
Sep 15, 2025
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A paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution finds that the relatively high rate of autism-spectrum disorders in humans is likely due to how humans evolved in the past. The paper is titled "A general principle of neuronal evolution ...
Evolution
Sep 9, 2025
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The microscopic alliance between algae and bacteria offers rare, step-by-step snapshots of how bacteria lose genes and adapt to increasing host dependence. This is shown by a new study led by researchers from Stockholm University, ...
Evolution
Aug 29, 2025
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Small, colorless, and blind, amblyopsid cavefishes inhabit subterranean waters throughout the eastern United States. In a new study, Yale researchers reveal insights into just how these distinctive cave dwellers evolved—and ...
Evolution
Aug 27, 2025
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