Rooting the family tree of placental mammals

Placental mammals consist of three main groups that diverged rapidly, evolving in wildly different directions: Afrotheria (for example, elephants and tenrecs), Xenarthra (such as armadillos and sloths) and Boreoeutheria (all ...

Evolutionary trees reveal patterns of microbial diversification

While teaching a class on coarse-graining methods in physics, James O'Dwyer realized that the technique could be used to understand how microbes evolve over time. The results, published in PNAS, reveal microbial family trees ...

Research shows that sea urchins, sand dollars thrived with time

A new study about echinoids—marine animals like sea urchins and sand dollars—gives scientists a reason to rethink a classical pattern of evolution. Fossil-based studies have traditionally indicated that groups of organisms ...

page 8 from 16