(Phys.org)—One of the most puzzling things about evolution is that, even after 4 billion years, it hasn't stopped. Instead of culminating in a single best adapted species, today the Earth contains an estimated 8.7 million ...
Evolution by Darwinian natural selection is immensely powerful—both in nature and within laboratories. Using 'laboratory evolution', we can take an enzyme which combines random mutations and functional selection, and improve ...
Biochemistry
Sep 12, 2018
12
280
A research published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences rejects the theory that the origin of life stems from a system of self-catalytic molecules capable of experiencing Darwinian evolution without the need of ...
Evolution
Jan 8, 2010
1
0
The idea of discovering a new form of life has not only excited astronomers and astrobiologists for decades, but also the wider public. The notion that we are the only example of a successful life form in the galaxy has, ...
Other
May 8, 2012
33
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Biologists have been unable to agree on a definition of the complex phenomenon known as "life." In a special collection of essays in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., leaders in the fields ...
Space Exploration
Jan 13, 2011
5
0
How do immune cells manage to sort through vast numbers of similar-looking proteins within the body to detect foreign invaders and fight infections? McGill researchers used computational tools to examine what kind of solutions ...
General Physics
Jun 7, 2013
1
0
The recent uproar about seats on a British Airways flight crawling with bedbugs is only one of the unintended consequences that urbanization worldwide has on evolution, say Marc Johnson, an associate professor of biology ...
Evolution
Nov 2, 2017
0
42
On "Star Trek, the aliens often look so human that crew members fall in love with them. But in real life, scientists in the field known as astrobiology can't be sure alien life would even be carbon-based like us, or use DNA ...
Biotechnology
Feb 13, 2012
2
0
After a triumphant landing, the Curiosity rover is ready to search Mars for signs of past life or suitability for life. Several readers have raised concerns that NASA scientists might fail to recognize life if it isn't ...
Evolution
Aug 13, 2012
9
0
The springtime emergence of vast swarms of cicadas can be explained by a mathematical model of collective decision-making that has similarities to models describing stock market crashes.
Mathematics
Feb 1, 2024
0
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