Genetic Archaeology News - March 2007 Archives
Scientists have long thought that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 millions years ago opened the door for modern mammal species to proliferate. But an international team of scientists has created a mammoth record of evolutionary timing, showing that the origins and diversification of existing mammal species - including human ancestors - don’t synch with the demise of the dinosaurs.
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 | A mother’s high beef consumption while pregnant was associated with lower sperm counts in her son, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Rochester. ...> Full Article |
University of Leicester study into ancestry of Thomas Jefferson shows rare class of DNA
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 | First Humans Retained Surprisingly Apelike Features, NYU Study Reveals ...> Full Article |
Forward-time simulation proves practical for studying complex diseases
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 | Scientists from the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research obtained for the first time a detailed temperature record for tropical central Africa over the past 25,000 years. ...> Full Article |
 | Study investigates how genetically-controlled physical traits affect population dynamics ...> Full Article |
 | A paper that authors are calling a "home run" study on the spread of disease is published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). ...> Full Article |
Fundamental theories in evolutionary biology have long proposed that biological kinship is the foundation of the family unit. It not only creates the sense of altruism that exists among genetically related family members, but also establishes boundaries regarding sexual relations within the nuclear family. Questions have persisted, however, regarding the means by which humans recognize family members – particularly siblings – as close genetic relatives.
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 | New research shows that tiny asexual creatures have managed to evolve into different species ...> Full Article |
USC College computational biologist Peter Calabrese has developed a new model to simulate the evolution of so-called recombination hotspots in the genome.
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 | The mystery of what killed Australia's giant animals - the so-called 'megafauna' - during the Last Ice Age is one of the longest-running and most emotive debates in palaeontology. ...> Full Article |
Early humans developed larger brains as they adapted to colder climates, according to University at Albany researchers.
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 | A new dinosaur that dug burrows and cared for its young in dens has been found in southwest Montana. ...> Full Article |
 | A team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of Almería has completed its second part of the "Proyecto La Puntilla", an archaeological expedition to the Peruvian province of Nazca, where last year it discovered a new type of construction. The latest findings show that a new political power based on the exercise of violence emerged on the south coast of Peru two thousand years ago. There was a State in which an aristocracy, based in Cahuachi, exercised its dominion on other, poorer communities in the Nazca Valley. The team has also observed practices such as cranial deformation. ...> Full Article |
 | An LSU researcher and a Mexican colleague have made a groundbreaking discovery about one of the world’s most important crops, corn. ...> Full Article |
 | The discovery of a new monkey species that’s found only in Uganda is being overshadowed by the imminent destruction of much of the animal’s habitat. ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists have discovered that the clouded leopard found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra is an entirely new species of cat. The secretive rainforest animal was originally thought to be the same species as the one found in mainland Southeast Asia. ...> Full Article |
 | An ancient sea-going crocodile has surfaced from the rocks of Crook County in eastern Oregon. Really. ...> Full Article |
 | One does not expect to discover a bird species new to science while wandering around the continental United States. Nor does one expect that such a species would provide much insight into how coevolutionary arms races promote speciation. On both fronts a paper to appear in The American Naturalist proves otherwise. ...> Full Article |
A survey of wild and domestic pigs has caused archaeologists to reconsider both the origins of the first Pacific colonists and the migration routes humans travelled to reach the remote Pacific.
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Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have determined the three-dimensional structure of an RNA enzyme, or "ribozyme," that carries out a fundamental reaction required to make new RNA molecules. Their results provide insight into what may have been the first self-replicating molecule to arise billions of years ago on the evolutionary path toward the emergence of life.
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University of British Columbia researchers have discovered that contrary to common belief, species do not evolve faster in warmer climates.
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NYU College of Dentistry Study Finds Humans and their Oral Bacteria Evolved From a Common African Ancestor
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A team of scientists, led by psychiatric geneticists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has gathered the most extensive evidence to date that a gene that activates signaling pathways in the brain influences one kind of intelligence. They have confirmed a link between the gene, CHRM2, and performance IQ, which involves a person's ability to organize things logically.
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 | An international team of American and Chinese paleontologists has discovered a new species of mammal that lived 125 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era, in what is now the Hebei Province in China. ...> Full Article |
Two new studies by University of California, Berkeley, scientists highlight the amazing promiscuity of genes, which appear to shuttle frequently between organisms, especially more primitive organisms, and often in packs.
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 | Research on a homo sapiens juvenile fossil shows that modern human developmental patterns emerged more that 160,000 years ago. ...> Full Article |
 | Ape-like human ancestors known as australopiths maintained short legs for 2 million years because a squat physique and stance helped the males fight over access to females, a University of Utah study concludes. ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists have known for years that the energy cost of walking and running is related primarily to the work done by muscles to lift and move the limbs. ...> Full Article |
Although the human and chimpanzee genomes are distinguished by 35 million differences in individual DNA "letters," only about 50,000 of those differences alter the sequences of proteins. Of those 50,000 differences, an estimated 5,000 may have adaptive consequences in the evolutionary divergence between these two species, according to a study published in the March 6, 2007, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Humans acquired pubic lice from gorillas several million years ago, but this seemingly seedy connection does not mean that monkey business went on with the great apes, a new University of Florida study finds.
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 | The arboreal, branch-swinging antics of the gibbon are nothing compared to the acrobatics its genome has undergone during evolution. While the genomes of humans and other primates still resemble that of their common ancestor, the massive genomic scrambling of the gibbon genome has rendered it a complex puzzle. Solving that puzzle, scientists believe, could help reveal how evolution experiments with genomic rearrangement, as well as how chromosomes can become unstable in cancer and other genetic diseases. ...> Full Article |
 | A New Zealand scientist has offered a schoolboy $100 for his six-legged frog ...> Full Article |
Study uses ‘histone code’ for functional genome annotation
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 | Scientists at the University of Illinois have conducted a genetic analysis of vespid wasps that revises the vespid family tree and challenges long-held views about how the wasps’ social behaviors evolved. ...> Full Article |
 | A new genetic population model indicates that if a gene exists for homosexual behavior, that it would rapidly spread in populations. The same model also predicts widespread bisexuality. ...> Full Article |
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Fish can recognize a face based on UV pattern alone
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Scientists locate apparent hydrothermal vents off Antarctica
Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing
What drives our genes? Researchers map the first complete human epigenome
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Tracking down the human 'odorprint'
Fill 'er up - with algae
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
Unselfish molecules may have helped give birth to the genetic material of life
Exploring Echinacea's enigmatic origins
Lizard moms choose the right genes for the right gender offspring
Modern man found to be generally monogamous, moderately polygamous
Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
Does promiscuity prevent extinction?
Stickleback genomes shining bright light on evolution
Researchers uncover DNA sequence of extinct ancient cattle
Small dogs originated in the Middle East
Ancient DNA reveals caribou history linked to volcanic eruption
Scientists create tiny RNA molecule with big implications for life's origins