New thesis maps the origin of colour vision

Roughly 500 million years ago, the genome of vertebrate animals' early ancestors doubled in size, not just once but twice. This meant that suddenly there were several gene copies which were free to develop new functions. ...

Many genes are switched on by default

Contrary to common scientific belief, many genes are switched "on" by default. These findings are from a study by Prof. Dr. Frank Holstege of University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht that has been published in the April 24 ...

UN says 2013 extreme events due to warming Earth (Update)

The head of the U.N. weather agency said Monday that recent extreme weather patterns are "consistent" with human-induced climate change, citing key events that wreaked havoc in Asia, Europe, the U.S. and Pacific region last ...

Artificial lighting and noise alter biorhythms of birds

(Phys.org) —Noise from traffic and artificial night lighting cause birds in the city centre to become active up to five hours earlier in the morning than birds in more natural areas. These were the findings from an investigation ...

LHC celebrates five years of not destroying the world

Five years ago, at breakfast time, the world waited anxiously for news from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The first nervy bunch of protons were due to be fired around the European lab's latest and ...

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