Sneezing sponges suggest existence of sensory organ

(Phys.org) —When Danielle Ludeman decided to leave her hometown of Vancouver to study evolutionary biology at the University of Alberta, she knew she was in for a challenge that would help her discover things about science ...

Ancestor of snakes, lizards likely gave birth to live young

The ancestor of snakes and lizards likely gave birth to live young, rather than laid eggs, and over time species have switched back and forth in their preferred reproductive mode, according to research published in print ...

Oldest existing lizard-like fossil hints at scaly origins

The fossilised remains of a reptile closely related to lizards are the oldest yet to be discovered. Two new fossil jaws discovered in Vellberg, Germany provide the first direct evidence that the ancestors of lizards, snakes ...

Which came first, hermits or kings?

Heather Bracken-Grissom, marine sciences professor in the FIU Department of Biological Sciences, has helped answer one of the most debated questions among evolutionary biologists: Did the hermit crab evolve into the king ...

'Stressed' bacteria become resistant to antibiotics

Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics when stressed, finds research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. In particular E. coli grown at high temperatures become resistant to rifampicin.

Birds evolved ultraviolet vision several times, research finds

Ultraviolet vision evolved at least eight times in birds from a common violet sensitive ancestor finds a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. All of these are due to single nucleotide ...

Cheating slime mold gets the upper hand

A 'cheater' mutation (chtB) in Dictyostelium discoideum, a free living slime mould able to co-operate as social organism when food is scarce, allows the cheater strain to exploit its social partner, finds a new study published ...

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