As a growing population and climate change threaten food security, researchers around the world are working to overcome the challenges that threaten the dietary needs of humans and livestock. A pair of scientists is now making ...
Ecology
Sep 20, 2019
1
336
Evolutionary biologist Michael Shapiro and his team from the University of Utah made international headlines in 2013 when they found that a prominent change in pigeon plumage, head crests, could be traced to a mutation in ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 23, 2015
0
405
Could the lives of the eight billion people currently on Earth have depended on the resilience of just 1,280 human ancestors who very nearly went extinct 900,000 years ago?
Evolution
Sep 15, 2023
0
465
The popular idea that Northern Europeans developed light skin to absorb more UV light so they could make more vitamin D – vital for healthy bones and immune function – is questioned by UC San Francisco researchers in ...
Evolution
Jun 30, 2014
17
0
Researchers at Google DeepMind, the tech giant's artificial intelligence arm, on Tuesday introduced a tool that predicts whether genetic mutations are likely to cause harm, a breakthrough that could help research into rare ...
Biotechnology
Sep 20, 2023
0
170
By comparing the human genome to the genomes of 34 other mammals, Australian scientists have described an unexpectedly high proportion of functional elements conserved through evolution.
Biotechnology
Jul 11, 2013
0
0
From the inside of our heads, it feels as if colors are intrinsic aspects of the outside world and our eyes are beautifully designed to see them. But we humans are merely sampling the possible ways of sensing the spectrum ...
Evolution
May 21, 2012
4
1
Any multicellular animal, from a blue whale to a human being, poses a special difficulty for the theory of evolution. Most of the cells in its body will die without reproducing, and only a privileged few will pass their genes ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 15, 2011
7
0
Before humans made their way to New Zealand, the critically endangered flightless parrot known as the kākāpō likely numbered in the hundreds of thousands. By 1995, their numbers had dwindled to just 51 birds, including ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 8, 2021
0
73
Many genetic mutations in visual pigments, spread over millions of years, were required for humans to evolve from a primitive mammal with a dim, shadowy view of the world into a greater ape able to see all the colors in a ...
Evolution
Dec 18, 2014
15
0
