Charles Darwin said that evolution was constantly happening, causing animals to adapt for survival. But many of his contemporaries disagreed. If evolution is always causing things to change, they asked, then how is it that ...
Evolution
Oct 9, 2023
7
688
Some of nature's mysteries have kept scientists busy for decades—for example, the processes that drive evolution. The question of whether certain differences between and within species are caused by natural selection or ...
Evolution
Oct 9, 2023
0
159
Were the first animals predators or filter feeders like the sponges living in today's oceans? And what role did symbiosis with algae play, as with reef-building corals? Surprising findings by a research group led by Prof. ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 29, 2023
2
85
In a new study published in PNAS, researchers have extracted the first ancient DNA from Caribbean parrots, which they compared with genetic sequences from modern birds. Working with fossils and archaeological specimens, they ...
Ecology
Sep 25, 2023
0
599
A team of ecologists and evolutionary biologists at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, has found that some normally asexual species of stick insects, which are known to reproduce via parthenogenesis, occasionally mate ...
Accurate phylogenetic trees are fundamental to evolutionary and comparative biology, but the almost simultaneous emergence of major animal phyla and diverse body plans during the Cambrian Explosion poses major challenges ...
Evolution
Sep 18, 2023
0
51
Depending upon how you do the counting, there are around 9 million species on Earth, from the simplest single-celled organisms to humans.
Evolution
Sep 6, 2023
4
528
Genetic kinship analyses of human bones reach their limits if the DNA is poorly preserved or if destructive sampling is not possible. New research shows that in such cases, comparisons of the structure and shape of certain ...
Evolution
Aug 10, 2023
1
91
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to go on safari in southern Africa. One of the greatest thrills was going out at night looking for predators on the prowl: lions, leopards, hyenas.
Plants & Animals
Aug 4, 2023
0
82
Cooperation is a guiding principle of everyday life. It's as simple as following the rules of the road when driving or holding a door for a stranger; cooperation is a fundamental aspect of human societies and has long intrigued ...
Mathematics
Jun 8, 2023
0
35
