Strong fists for defending ourselves and opposable thumbs for work as fine as threading a needle—hand specialisation is widely believed to have given humans a major evolutionary advantage.
Evolution
Jul 14, 2015
33
2306
A new study of an otherworldly creature from half a billion years ago - a worm-like animal with legs, spikes and a head difficult to distinguish from its tail - has definitively identified its head for the first time, and ...
Archaeology
Jun 24, 2015
4
608
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have determined that toothed whales lack functional Mx genes—a surprising discovery, since all 56 other sequenced mammals in the study possess these genes to fight ...
Evolution
Jun 15, 2015
0
855
New research shows that a burst of evolutionary innovation in the genes responsible for electrical communication among nerve cells in our brains occurred over 600 million years ago in a common ancestor of humans and the sea ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 16, 2015
5
1399
Working at the edge of a coal mine in India, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers and colleagues have filled in a major gap in science's understanding of the evolution of a group of animals that includes horses and rhinos. ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Nov 20, 2014
0
0
Whether birds are breathing in or out, air flows in a one-directional loop through their lungs. This pattern was unexpected and for decades, biologists assumed it was unique to birds, a special adaptation driven by the intense ...
Evolution
Nov 17, 2014
0
0
Enzymes that help produce caffeine evolved independently in coffee, tea and chocolate, say scientists who have newly sequenced the coffee plant genome.
Biotechnology
Sep 4, 2014
25
0
During the age of the dinosaurs, the arrival of flowering plants as competitors could have spelled doom for the ancient fern lineage. Instead, ferns diversified and flourished under the new canopy—using a mysterious gene ...
Biotechnology
Apr 14, 2014
0
0
The search for a common ancestor linking modern humans with the Neanderthals who lived in Europe thousands of years ago has been a compelling subject for research. But a new study suggests the quest isn't nearly complete.
Archaeology
Oct 21, 2013
4
0
(Phys.org) —University of Arizona geneticists have discovered the oldest known genetic branch of the human Y chromosome – the hereditary factor determining male sex.
Biotechnology
Mar 4, 2013
7
0
