https://phys.org/biology-news/evolution/ en-us The latest science news on evolution Two-thirds of a century after Jane Goodall observed "David Greybeard" break off a twig to fashion a fishing rod for termites, researchers following in her footsteps have found that adult chimpanzees in Senegal literally hand youngsters the tools for learning. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chimpanzees-youngsters-tools-tricky-techniques.html Plants & Animals Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:02 EDT news708597361 A new prehistoric animal species from Tanzania dating to around 240 million years ago, during the Triassic period, has been described by an international team of researchers. Led by the University of Bristol, the new species, named Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda, could help scientists refine the age of one of the world's most significant fossil sites and reshape the timeline of early dinosaur evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-species-million-year-prehistoric-animal.html Evolution Tue, 15 Sep 2026 19:10:01 EDT news708681481 DNA repair mechanisms are essential for maintaining the integrity of our genome. When they malfunction, they can cause disease or contribute to the development of cancer. Nature, however, offers remarkable examples of organisms that have evolved exceptional repair capabilities. Bdelloid rotifers are one such example. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tolerant-rotifers-rebuild-broken-chromosomes.html Evolution Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:40:22 EDT news708614156 When a virus mutates, the world usually finds out the hard way. Variants of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 can slip past vaccines and antibody drugs before scientists fully understand what has changed. A new study from Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) suggests the hard way may not be inevitable. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-antibody-cocktails-viruses-evolutionary-dead.html Evolution Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:40:16 EDT news708621658 Woolly rhinoceroses (Coelodonta antiquitatis) were fascinating creatures: giant, lumbering Ice Age beasts with thick fur and massive horns that died out about 11,000 years ago. Previous genetic studies had left open the question of whether their genetic diversity emerged in high-latitude areas, like that of woolly mammoths, but a new analysis of ancient DNA and habitat models covering the past 500,000 years has revealed a different story. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-history-woolly-rhinos-werent-creatures.html Evolution Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:30:01 EDT news708600903 A research team from the University of Bern has shown in a large-scale field experiment that populations of the same fish species can be much more fine-tuned to their local environments than previously thought. Habitats that appear nearly identical to us can therefore make a decisive difference in evolution. This hidden diversity is not only key to understanding how biodiversity arises, but also has important implications for its conservation. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-evolutionary-home-advantage-field-reveals.html Evolution Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:40:04 EDT news708600361 The seemingly trivial ability to hear a regular pulse in music is a remarkable—and perhaps distinctively human—feature of the brain. In a wide-ranging critical review, Gábor Háden of the HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences and Henkjan Honing of the University of Amsterdam evaluate more than two decades of research into how this capacity develops and has evolved. Their paper was published this week in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-brain-ability-musical-distinctly-human.html Plants & Animals Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:20:04 EDT news708343081 An international team of researchers, including those at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Institute of Science Tokyo, has developed a protein language model that brings together two fundamental sources of information about proteins: their amino acid sequences and three-dimensional structures. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-sequence-protein-universe-billions-years.html Evolution Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:00:06 EDT news708337379 About 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian Period, a large proportion of species on Earth rapidly became extinct. After this mass extinction, many groups of organisms began to recover, while reptiles known as archosauromorphs—the group that includes dinosaurs and crocodiles—proliferated. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-analysis-reconstructs-dawn-dinosaurs-reptiles.html Evolution Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:00:04 EDT news708176567 Allowing females to mate with multiple males, rather than just one, could help make species more resistant to extinction, University of East Anglia research shows. A new study reveals that when females have multiple males to mate with, their offspring inherit significantly fewer harmful genetic mutations. This, in turn, makes the entire population healthier and less likely to die out. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-sex-multiple-species-extinction.html Plants & Animals Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:40:07 EDT news708262195 Tiny flowers trapped in amber around 15 million years ago are offering scientists a rare glimpse into the plant life of a tropical rainforest in what is now Southeast China. Researchers have studied two exceptionally well-preserved fossil flowers from the Zhangpu flora. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-fossil-ancient-lianas-amber-reveal.html Evolution Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:20:08 EDT news708250085 About 66 million years ago, a dinosaur—maybe a T. rex or a Nanotyrannus—ate a bird. The record of that meal, in the form of fossilized poop, has survived to today, preserving the best example of a feather ever found from the age of dinosaurs. By studying this feather, scientists reported in a new study in the journal Current Biology, researchers have found clues that help explain why birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the mass extinction 66 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-fossil-feather-dinosaur-poop-birds.html Evolution Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:00:04 EDT news708089942 A "peculiar" new species of Jurassic squid-like animal has been unearthed in Wyoming, U.S., following the discovery of two exceptionally rare fossils dating to around 160 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-peculiar-species-jurassic-squid-wyoming.html Evolution Thu, 10 Sep 2026 08:40:01 EDT news708248042 Taylor Swift is now the namesake of a genus of plant-feeding insects from Australia that were previously unknown to science. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-insect-genus-species-taylor-swift.html Plants & Animals Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:40:01 EDT news708185701 Ichthyosaurs ruled the oceans for 150 million years during the Mesozoic Era. Their fish-shaped bodies were built for high speeds. In that context, it is normally an advantage to be as light as possible. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-fossil-ribs-reveal-secrets-ichthyosaur.html Evolution Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:20:01 EDT news708177575 A new comparative review, published in The Anatomical Record, examines factors that may lead to birth complications among humans and other mammals. The study suggests that fetal sex may play an important role in risky births in humans and several other species. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-son-hypothesis-bigger-sons-births.html Plants & Animals Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:27:09 EDT news708175596 More than two decades after scientists first sequenced the entire human genome—all 3 billion base pairs, of DNA code—the meaning of much of this code remains a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ai-dna-evolution-secrets-human.html Evolution Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:00:37 EDT news708167741 The average person takes thousands of steps each day, instinctively walking heel-to-toe. Although they hardly register them, those consistent heel-first strides are more distinctive to humans than previously thought and allowed early hominins to walk farther and more efficiently, but at the cost of higher impact forces on bones and joints, according to a new study led by a researcher at Penn State. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-heel-early-humans-high-impact.html Evolution Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:00:04 EDT news708011198 How do related proteins develop different functions? This is the question investigated by a research team involving Kiel University, DESY and the Center for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB). Led by Holger Sondermann, professor at Kiel University and head of the Structural Microbiology group at DESY, the researchers reconstructed the common ancestor of two bacterial enzymes and produced the long-extinct protein in the laboratory. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-reconstructed-ancient-protein-bacterial-enzymes.html Evolution Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:40:04 EDT news707992561 Scientists have discovered that one of the most unusual creatures in the animal kingdom is far more diverse and evolutionarily complex than previously known. An international team led by the University of Göttingen has reconstructed the evolutionary history of branching marine worms—rare annelids that live hidden inside sea sponges and whose bodies branch repeatedly into multiple posterior ends. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-decades-museum-specimens-reveal-extraordinary.html Plants & Animals Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:20:01 EDT news707989621 With their slender bodies and long front legs, Miracinonyx trumani—often nicknamed the "American cheetah"—was long thought to be a North American analog of the African big cat. But in a new study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers reveal that the extinct cat was more closely related to pumas. Some populations living near the Arctic preyed almost exclusively on fish, challenging the long-held assumption that these "cheetahs" chased fast-running prey, such as pronghorns. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-extinct-american-cheetah.html Evolution Sun, 06 Sep 2026 11:00:01 EDT news707573172 A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has overturned decades of assumptions about Miracinonyx trumani, the extinct predator popularly known as the American cheetah. By analyzing nuclear paleogenomes and stable isotopes from fossils found as far north as the Yukon, scientists have discovered that this iconic cat was not a true cheetah but a highly adaptable relative of the puma that specialized in eating fish to survive in the Arctic. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cheetah-ancient-dna-reveals-arctic.html Evolution Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:00:07 EDT news707572984 Two tiny ant fossils recovered in southern Saskatchewan are helping scientists better understand the evolutionary history of modern ants. Ant fossils dating from 72–56 million years ago are rare. What happened to insects such as ants during this period that saw a mass extinction wipe out all non-bird dinosaurs? How did that event reshape their world? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tiny-fossils-reveal-big-insights.html Evolution Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:20:01 EDT news707668441 On the windswept coasts of Oregon and California lives an unassuming little plant that can withstand salty blasts that kill its inland counterparts. It's called the yellow monkeyflower. Now, researchers are beginning to understand how it manages to thrive in conditions that leave other plants burned, brown and withered. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-unassuming-wildflower-salt-laden-air.html Plants & Animals Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:50:01 EDT news707674442 About 200 million years ago, furry, little egg-laying creatures evolved the ability to feed their offspring with a secretion from special glands: milk. Their evolutionary journey continued, and by about 160 million years ago, the first mammals with a real placenta had come into being. Instead of laying eggs, they gave birth to live young that had been connected directly to their mother via a placenta during pregnancy, allowing the exchange of oxygen, nutrients and waste products. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-early-mammals-werent-loners-pairs.html Evolution Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:00:02 EDT news707660041 The pigments that give beets their red color may have helped a major group of flowering plants repeatedly adapt to dry environments, setting the stage for the evolution of traits that allowed plants to adapt to some of the harshest environments on Earth, according to a University of Michigan study. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-pigment-beets-linked-harsh-environments.html Plants & Animals Thu, 03 Sep 2026 14:00:12 EDT news707656081 The enzymes found in modern organisms are complex proteins, often with multiple folded substructures and specialized catalytic sites. Proteins are encoded by genes. Tracing the history of enzymes across all living organisms through gene comparisons leads to the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), a hypothetical organism that existed around 4 billion years ago and is believed to be the ancestor of life forms on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-metabolic-networks-clues-earliest-stages.html Evolution Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:40:03 EDT news707652681 We often think of microbes as organisms that live around us, like the Salmonella bacteria and flu viruses that cause illness. But some of our most intimate relationships are with the microbes living inside us. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ancient-fossil-china-reveals-animalmicrobe.html Evolution Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:20:08 EDT news707579761 Why do some groups of organisms contain thousands of species while others have only a handful? Evolutionary biologists have spent decades trying to answer this question using mathematical models that estimate how biological traits and environmental factors influence the formation and extinction of species. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-biology-mathematics-hidden-symmetries-widely.html Evolution Wed, 02 Sep 2026 13:00:05 EDT news707565841 Scientists believed there were only two species of hornerid bryozoans in Aotearoa New Zealand, but new research shows several more have been secretly evolving and thriving in the nation's southern waters. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-species-million-year-marine-group.html Evolution Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:00:04 EDT news707556770