Searching for the origin of muscles

Ulrich Technau from the University of Vienna has addressed the origin of musculature. His analysis reveals for the first time that some central components of muscles of higher animals are much older than previously assumed. ...

Why do we gesticulate?

If you rely on hand gestures to get your point across, you can thank fish for that! Scientists have found that the evolution of the control of speech and hand movements can be traced back to the same place in the brain, which ...

Research links evolution of fins and limbs with that of gills

The genetic toolkit that animals use to build fins and limbs is the same genetic toolkit that controls the development of part of the gill skeleton in sharks, according to research to be published in Proceedings of the National ...

The placodonts are fellow Europeans

Placodonts were among the first marine reptiles. With their trademark crushing teeth, they fed on shellfish and crustaceans. However, when and where these highly specialized marine reptiles originated remained unclear until ...

Brainy worms: Evolution of the cerebral cortex

(PhysOrg.com) -- Our cerebral cortex, or pallium, is a big part of what makes us human: art, literature and science would not exist had this most fascinating part of our brain not emerged in some less intelligent ancestor ...

Ruminant headgear: A mystery awaiting unraveling

(PhysOrg.com) -- Emerging from the heads of most cud-chewing mammals, headgear inspire an almost mystical and certainly majestic aura. But, scientists say, we know shockingly little about them.

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