Feature Channels: Evolution and Darwin

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Evolution is often thought of as a gradual remodeling of the genome, the genetic blueprints for building an organism. But in some instance it might be more appropriate to call it an overhaul. Over the past 100 million years, the human lineage has lost one-fifth of its DNA, while an even greater amount was added, report scientists at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Until now, the extent to which our genome has expanded and contracted had been underappreciated.

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A new study probes the origins of carnivory in several distantly related plants — including the Australian, Asian and American pitcher plants, which appear strikingly similar to the human (or insect) eye.

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New research shows that red-footed tortoises can remember the location of their favourite food sources and the biggest stashes for at least 18 months.

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The difference between men and women with respect to their age preferences, when it comes to sexual partners, is smaller than earlier believed. A recent study shows that also men become interested in older and older women as they themselves age.

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In humans, social factors may explain ‘missing heritability’ in complex diseases.

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Click here to go directly to the Physics News Source Sponsored by AIP.

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How we feel after 1-night stands has a lot to do with our gender -- and evolution.

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Interesting limestone rock found at Croatian Neanderthal site

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Anthropologists at Université de Montréal have dated the oldest human settlement in Canada back 10,000 years.

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Scientists at the University of Chicago have created the first genetically modified animals containing reconstructed ancient genes, which they used to test the evolutionary effects of genetic changes that happened in the deep past on the animals’ biology and fitness.

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The global map of alien bird species has been produced for the first time by a UCL-led team of researchers. It shows that human activities are the main determinants of how many alien bird species live in an area but that alien species are most successful in areas already rich with native bird species.

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Since 2012, UdeM PhD student Catherine Girard has collected stool samples from the Inuit of Nunavut. In a new study, she documents for the first time their "gut microbiome" – with surprising results.

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When anthropologists of the future find our fossilized teeth, what will they be able to conclude about our lives?Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg has an idea.

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In a perspective published January 6, 2017, in Science, Hamilton Farris, PhD, Associate Professor-Research at LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence, finds that the key insight of an important study is that perception can drive the evolution of observable traits.

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New research on the teeth of fossilized dinosaur embryos indicates that the eggs of non-avian dinosaurs took a long time to hatch--between about three and six months.

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Yet, how this key innovation evolved remains a mystery locked within the leathery shell of a lizard egg. Now, Dr. Thomas Sanger at Loyola University in Chicago has developed new techniques to understand more about the process of evolutionary diversification by observing development in real time.

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More than 200 species of “true toads” have fully functional inner ears, but cannot fully use them because they have lost their tympanic middle ears, the part of the ear which transmits sound air pressures from the outside world to the inner ear. These “earless” toads rely on sounds to communicate, so why would they lose a sense that is key to their survival and reproduction?

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The things we consume, from iPhones to cars to IKEA furniture, have costs that go well beyond their purchase price. What if the soybeans used to make that tofu you ate last night were grown in fields that were hewn out of tropical rainforests? Or if that tee-shirt you bought came from an industrial area that had been carved out of high-value habitat in Malaysia?

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New research on the teeth of fossilized dinosaur embryos indicates that the eggs of non-avian dinosaurs took a long time to hatch--between about three and six months.

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It has long been suspected that humans and the urban areas we create are having an important — and surprisingly current and ongoing — effect on evolution, which may have significant implications for the sustainability of global ecosystems. A new multi-institution study led by the University of Washington that examines 1,600 global instances of phenotypic change — alterations to species' observable traits such as size, development or behavior — shows more clearly than ever that urbanization is affecting the genetic makeup of species that are crucial to ecosystem health and success.

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How long did it take for dinosaur eggs to incubate? Groundbreaking research led by Florida State University establishes a timeline of three to six months.

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New research publishing December 27 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology characterizes the ability of populations to interbreed and exchange genes as a function of the level divergence of their genomes.

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The study is the first to draw a link between RBC size and microscopic traces of blood vessels and bone cells inside bones. They found that extinct mammal and bird relatives had smaller RBCs and were likely better athletes than earlier terrestrial vertebrates. The timing of RBC-size reduction coincided with Earth's greatest mass extinction 252 mya.

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Earth was inhospitable to complex life for billions of years, suffocating evolution in a nearly oxygen-free environment. Then came a shift in phosphorus concentrations to ocean shallows, and shortly after it, complex life exploded.

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The naming of colors has long been a topic of interest in the study of human culture and cognition — revealing the link between perception, language, and the categorization of the natural world. A major question in the study of both anthropology and cognitive science is why the world’s languages show recurrent similarities in color naming. Linguists at Yale tracked the evolution of color terms across a large language tree in Australia in order to trace the history of these systems.

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Paleontologists at the University of Washington report that an extinct mammal relative harbored a benign tumor made up of miniature, tooth-like structures. The tumor, a compound odontoma, is common to mammals today. But this animal lived 255 million years ago, before mammals even existed.

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A new study by Burke Museum and University of Washington paleontologists describes an early marsupial relative called Didelphodon vorax that lived alongside ferocious dinosaurs and had, pound-for-pound, the strongest bite force of any mammal ever recorded.

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Australopithecus afarensis arm bones were strong relative to leg bones; walking gait was likely inefficient

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Since the discovery of the fossil dubbed Lucy 42 years ago this month, paleontologists have debated whether the 3 million-year-old human ancestor spent all of her time walking on the ground or instead combined walking with frequent tree climbing.

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Why do some animals have extravagant, showy ornaments -- think deer antlers, peacock feathers and horns on beetles -- that can be a liability to survival? Northwestern University researchers have a possible explanation for this puzzling phenomenon of evolution.

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A laboratory study of four animal species and their microbiota finds that each species hosts a unique community of microbes that can significantly improve its health and fitness.

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A new study explains brain mechanisms associated to the lack of sensitivity to music.

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A subtle change occurred in our evolutionary history 100,000 years ago which allowed people who thought and behaved differently - such as individuals with autism - to be integrated into society, academics from the University of York have concluded.

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Researchers at the University of Oxford have demonstrated that the diets of organisms can affect the DNA sequences of their genes.

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The latest research and features on Animals in the Wildlife News Source

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Bats are not just skillful aviators, they can also reach record-breaking speeds.

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Larger populations allowed humans to shed weakly deleterious gene variants that were widespread in Neanderthals.

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A new study published in Scientific Reports shows how higher latitude ecosystems recovered after the World's most cataclysmic extinction event 252 million years ago.

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The new millipede also has bizarre-looking mouthparts of a mysterious function, four legs that are modified into penises, a body covered in long silk-secreting hairs, and paired nozzles on each of its over 100 segments that squirt a defense chemical of an unknown nature.

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Studying Andean bird species that have adapted to high altitudes, Nebraska biologist Jay Storz and his colleagues find that evolutionary change at the molecular level is idiosyncratic and less predictable.

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Teeth striations of Homo habilis fossil date back 1.8 million years.

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Ancient DNA research has revealed that Ice Age cave artists recorded a previously unknown hybrid species of bison and cattle in great detail on cave walls more than 15,000 years ago.

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The most complete ice age mastodon skeleton found in Michigan since the 1940s was recovered this month from the state's Thumb region by a University of Michigan-led team that included Tuscola County teachers who volunteered for the dig.

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With recent studies proving that almost everyone has a little bit of Neanderthal DNA in them----up to 5 percent of the human genome--- it's become clear our ancestors not only had some serious hominid 'hanky panky' going on, but with it, a potential downside: the spread of sexually transmitted infections, or STIs.

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Remember dropping your milk teeth? After a lot of wiggling the tooth finally dropped out. But in your hand was only the enamel-covered crown: the entire root of the tooth had somehow disappeared.

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New research, led by the University of Southampton, has found that human activities such as shipping are having a noticeable impact on marine species and their native habitats.

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A new study identifies two fossils previously thought to be generic carnivorans (a large, diverse order of mammals) as some of the earliest known members of the beardog family. These fossils are from animals estimated to be no larger than about five pounds, roughly the size of a Chihuahua and much smaller than formidable descendants that would later evolve.

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newly described species of extinct reptile that roamed Texas more than 200 million years ago had a strikingly dome-shaped head with a very thick skull and a large natural pit on top that lends the appearance of an extra eye, according to a study released Sept. 22 in Current Biology.

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Bonobos, chimpanzees and orangutans understand that others can be convinced of something that is not true, says a study by researchers of Duke University, Kyoto University, the University of St. Andrews and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

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We all know that the way someone sees the world, and the way it really is, are not always the same. This ability to recognize that someone’s beliefs may differ from reality has long been seen as unique to humans. But new research on chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans suggests our primate relatives may also be able to tell when something is just in your head. The study was led by researchers of Duke University, Kyoto University, the University of St. Andrews and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.