https://phys.org/biology-news/evolution/ en-us The latest science news on evolution A new study on climate adaptation in the Pacific pocket mouse—North America's most endangered mouse has been published in Science Advances. The research highlights a major challenge for endangered species, as many lack the genetic diversity needed to survive changing climates. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-world-rarest-mouses-climate.html Plants & Animals Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:03 EDT news695636102 Assisted evolution could help corals survive future heat waves, but careful trait choice and strong repeated selection will be needed for it to be effective. As global temperatures rise, marine heat waves are becoming more frequent and severe, driving coral bleaching and mortality. While some coral populations are already showing signs of natural adaptation, researchers warn that these changes are unlikely to keep pace with future warming. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-coral-reefs-require-ruthless-generations.html Evolution Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:00:01 EDT news695635441 Does a male bird with a long and complex courtship dance have superior cognitive abilities? Simply put, is a talented dancer a smarter bird? To answer the question, researchers at Université de Montréal studied the zebra finch, a small bird known for the dramatic differences between the male and female of the species. The scientists wanted to determine whether females choose males who perform elaborate dances because those displays reflect above-average intelligence. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-birds-dancers-smarter.html Plants & Animals Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:20:02 EDT news695635683 Baby Neanderthals may have been much larger and grown much more quickly than their modern Homo sapiens counterparts, according to a new study of the most intact Neanderthal infant skeleton. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are our closest extinct relatives, an ancient group of humans that lived in Eurasia from several hundred thousand years ago until they disappeared around 40,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-baby-neanderthals-rapid-growth-spurt.html Evolution Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:40:03 EDT news695563623 Photosynthetic bacteria helped shape planet Earth. Among them are cyanobacteria that produced the oxygen in the atmosphere and made complex life possible, captivating scientists for decades. Now, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) report a surprising new discovery—a system thought to separate DNA has developed to sculpt the shape of the cell in cyanobacteria instead. The results, published in Science, shed light on how protein systems evolve and how multicellularity emerged in this type of ecologically essential bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-cyanobacteria-scientists-evolutionary-shift.html Evolution Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:07 EDT news695472121 A German–Argentine team of paleontologists led by SNSB dinosaur expert Oliver Rauhut has discovered a new long-necked dinosaur, Bicharracosaurus dionidei, from the Upper Jurassic period in Argentina, dating back approximately 155 million years. Long-necked dinosaur fossils from the Jurassic period in the Southern Hemisphere are rare, so the new fossil contributes to a better understanding of the evolution of these giant herbivores on the southern continents. The researchers have now published their findings in the journal PeerJ. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-patagonia-yields-million-year-necked.html Evolution Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:00:06 EDT news695556361 From the ability to detect the smell of wet soil to the scent of ripe fruit, the human olfactory system has evolved over thousands of years in response to how people live and what they eat, according to a new genetic study of Indigenous populations in Malaysia. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-human-evolved-diets-lifestyle-genetic.html Evolution Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:00:09 EDT news695473502 The Easter holidays are over and many people have once again experienced firsthand how easily sweets can be converted into fat. Parasitic wasps are also capable of converting sugar into fat—a capability that long was thought to be lost in these insects. Researchers at the Universities of Regensburg and Münster now show in a new study how important this metabolic pathway is for these insects: when so-called lipogenesis—the conversion of sugar into fatty acids and fat—is silenced, the wasps can no longer produce offspring. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-fat-parasitic-wasps-pheromones-eggs.html Evolution Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:10:06 EDT news695488621 The fossil record has given us another new prehistoric species, named Eosphorosuchus lacrimosa (from the Greek personification of the morning star—the planet Venus), a member of the group called Crocodylomorpha, which includes modern crocodiles. The bones had been sitting around in a museum drawer for three-quarters of a century and had been misidentified as another type of closely related reptile. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-museum-drawer-fossil-reveals-million.html Evolution Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:00:05 EDT news695476133 "You want to stick your finger in a dinosaur brain?" asked Simba Srivastava. Surrounded by cabinets full of ancient bones in the paleobiology lab, the Virginia Tech undergraduate student held out a lumpy, pockmarked fossil. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-battered-skull-exposes-lost-killer.html Evolution Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:40:04 EDT news695474521 An international team of scientists from Queen Mary University of London, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and other institutions has uncovered surprising new behavior in the tropical forests of Malaysian Borneo. In a study published in PeerJ, the researchers report that predatory wasps are increasingly taking over the hollow stems of the tropical plant Macaranga pearsonii—structures the tree has evolved specifically to house protective ant colonies. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-wasps-ant-partnership-disrupting-10millionyear.html Evolution Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:20:04 EDT news695466841 A massive study of ancient DNA from nearly 16,000 people across more than 10,000 years in West Eurasia reveals that natural selection has shaped modern human genomes far more than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-farming-ancient-dna-reveals-natural.html Evolution Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:00:09 EDT news695381445 In a new study, appearing in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, scientists selectively bred Japanese quails into two groups: laying either relatively large or small eggs. As the quails don't do much "parenting" after eggs hatch, mothers' main contribution is the resources they transfer to their eggs (chicks from larger eggs are more likely to survive). https://phys.org/news/2026-04-birds-energy-parenthood-age-faster.html Plants & Animals Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:10:01 EDT news695294341 Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have identified simple rules that explain how complex protein structures assemble correctly and remain functional over time, despite having many theoretically possible configurations. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on bacterioferritin, a bacterial protein complex responsible for safely storing iron. Unlike simpler protein assemblies made of identical parts, many bacterioferritins are built from two different types of subunits, each with a distinct role. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-simple-proteins-evolve.html Evolution Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:40:06 EDT news695395621 The stag beetle Prosopocoilus hachijoensis is the only flightless species of the genus Prosopocoilus in Japan. Researchers at University of Tsukuba investigated the mechanisms underlying the loss of flight by comparing this beetle with closely related species that are capable of flight. Their analyses are published in The Science of Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-stag-beetle-prosopocoilus-hachijoensis-ability.html Plants & Animals Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:40:04 EDT news695397421 Researchers at the University of Zurich have analyzed the genome of bacteria living in Lake Zurich to conclude that microbes employ two different strategies to colonize new habitats. Some acquire new traits, as expected—but others reduce the size of their genome and lose some functions in order to successfully move to a new home. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-lake-bacteria-survive-slashing-genome.html Evolution Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:20:09 EDT news695389141 The CRISPR-Cas gene-editing system has long been the focus of research as a promising tool in genome editing. However, the emphasis has been on its underlying mechanisms and nucleases. In contrast, little research has examined how CRISPR-Cas systems have evolved and been optimized. In collaboration with the universities of Leipzig, Freiburg, and Michigan (U.S.), a research team at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg found an optimization mechanism in CRISPR-Cas13, providing insights into the evolution of these systems. The results were recently published in The EMBO Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-built-hairpin-mechanism-crispr-cas13.html Evolution Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:40:06 EDT news695388602 A genetic master map of ancient grasses could be the key to future-proofing global food supplies, according to a new study revealing why some crops are naturally better at surviving climate change than others. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-genetic-discovery-reveals-born-survive.html Evolution Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:20:04 EDT news695386802 Weasels are small carnivores with a long body and short legs. They also have a stout skull and sharp teeth. These creatures, along with ferrets and minks, make up the Mustelinae subfamily. Until now, researchers believed that the oldest fossils from this family were from Poland and Germany, dating back to about 3.5 million years ago in the Pliocene epoch. But a fossil discovered in Teruel, Spain, has doubled that estimate, dating back to the late Miocene, around 6.5 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tiny-predator-ancient-spain-weasel.html Evolution Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:00:05 EDT news695383441 A team of researchers from institutions across South America have expanded scholarly knowledge of the Pikelinia spider genus, with their recent discovery of a new crevice weaver species: Pikelinia floydmuraria. The new species name is a creative tribute to the legendary rock band Pink Floyd, while simultaneously referencing the spider's specific habitat. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tiny-wall-spider-pink-floyd.html Plants & Animals Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:20:03 EDT news695377322 Two unrelated groups of nectar eaters, hummingbirds and sunbirds, have evolved different techniques to slurp the sweet liquid from flowers. The tongue suctioning employed by sunbirds is unique among vertebrates, according to recent research appearing in Current Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-video-sunbirds-hummingbirds-dont.html Plants & Animals Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:10:01 EDT news695317621 It has long been known that environmental conditions can shape how traits are inherited, a phenomenon known as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. However, the molecular signals responsible for encoding this biological "memory" have remained largely unknown. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-vitamin-b12-inherited-behavioral-generations.html Evolution Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:50:02 EDT news695315761 Between 280 and 200 million years ago, a group of animals evolved which would eventually give rise to mammals, including humans: the therapsids. They were first described more than 150 years ago, based on fossils from South Africa. Since then, many more fossils have been discovered. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-embryo-fossil-south-africa-world.html Evolution Sun, 12 Apr 2026 15:30:01 EDT news695041122 The discovery of the oldest ever dog DNA suggests they have been our best friends for nearly 16,000 years—5,000 years earlier than had previously been thought, new research said Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-oldest-dog-dna-years-human.html Evolution Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:10:02 EDT news693666274 We thought it was evolution, but an experiment with pencils shows that tips like teeth and thorns may owe their rounded shape to mechanical wear. Most of us have been stung by a bee, bitten by an animal, or scratched by a thorny bush. But very few of us have probably taken a close look at nature's painful, pointed tips. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-teeth-thorns-coincidences-universal-nature.html Evolution Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:20:02 EDT news695033521 A remarkable new discovery is shedding light on one of the greatest survival stories in Earth's history, and answering a decades-old scientific mystery. Lystrosaurus, a hardy, plant-eating mammal ancestor, rose to prominence in the wake of the End-Permian Mass Extinction some 252 million years ago, the most devastating extinction event our planet has ever experienced. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mammal-ancestors-laid-eggs-million.html Evolution Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:14 EDT news694942803 New research from the University of Portsmouth has found that great apes exhibit exactness in mimicking one another's facial expressions in social contexts. The study, published in Scientific Reports, explored how orangutans and chimpanzees mirror expressions during social interactions, particularly laugh faces, drawing comparisons with human behaviors such as the Duchenne smile—a genuine smile that engages both the mouth and eyes. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-great-apes-mirror-facial-precision.html Evolution Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:20:02 EDT news694952942 Stromatolites—and their close relatives, microbial mats—could be mistaken for what seems like a bunch of old dark rocks. But instead, they are dense, layered communities of microbes. Long before complex life such as animals or plants existed, stromatolites breathed the first molecules of oxygen into Earth's atmosphere. Now, in a study published in Current Biology, researchers say they may also hold insights into how complex life began. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-asgard-earth-tiny-tubes-reveal.html Evolution Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:00:06 EDT news694943992 Sometimes, different organisms can evolve the same ability independently, a process called parallel evolution. A new study from Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) has found that dragonflies sense red light similarly to mammals, including humans. The findings were published in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-dragonflies-humans-red-wavelengths-nm.html Evolution Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:20:05 EDT news694946676 Anybody who has seen "Finding Nemo" knows about those captivating monsters of the sea: anglerfishes. Variously horrific or alien-looking, many female anglerfishes sport long, protruding lures used for enticing prey or signaling during mating. Additionally, the dizzying variety of lures doesn't just include motion-based ones. Some anglerfish species have bioluminescent lures, while others have lures that release chemicals to attract prey or signal potential mates. Now, research from the University of Kansas appearing in Ichthyology & Herpetology is giving new detail to the evolutionary history of anglerfishes' lures, studying more than 100 species to see how the lures evolved. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-evolution-anglerfishes-famed-fishing-rod.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:00:04 EDT news694878902