All Articles Tagged As: evolution

Ancient protein offers clues to killer condition (5/13/2008)

More than 600 million years of evolution has taken two unlikely distant cousins - turkeys and scallops - down very different physical paths from a common ancestor. But researchers have found that a motor protein, myosin 2, remains structurally identical in both creatures. ...> Full Article

Animal interaction behind 'Cambrian Explosion'? (5/7/2008)

'Missing' ancestors of today's animals may not be missing after all ...> Full Article

When Genetics And Geology Meet In Patagonia (4/14/2008)

Study argues observed changes in freshwater fish demographics occurred in response to climate change over the past three million years ...> Full Article

Scientists Find a Fingerprint of Evolution Across the Human Genome (4/9/2008)

Splicing exerts selective pressure on DNA sequence ...> Full Article

Study suggests evolutionary source of alcoholism's accidental enemy (4/3/2008)

Some change in the environment in many East Asian communities during the past few thousand years may have protected residents from becoming alcoholics ...> Full Article

Study Questions 'Cost of Complexity' in Evolution (4/1/2008)

Higher organisms do not have a "cost of complexity" - or slowdown in the evolution of complex traits ...> Full Article

Gene's 'selective signature' aids detection of natural selection in microbial evolution (3/22/2008)

Microbes, the oldest and most numerous creatures on Earth, have a rich genomic history that offers clues to changes in the environment that have occurred over hundreds of millions of years. ...> Full Article

Major Mid-century Influenza Epidemics Caused By Novel Hybrid Viruses (3/5/2008)

Reassortment of the influenza A virus occurs frequently throughout its evolutionary history. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the National Institute of Health used an evolutionary analysis of influenza viruses sampled from 1918 -- 2005 to investigate the influenza viruses that cause seasonal epidemics in humans, particularly those where mortality was unusually high. ...> Full Article

Viruses Evolve To Play By Host Rules (3/4/2008)

Biologists have examined the complete genomes of viruses that infect the bacteria E. coli, P. aeruginosa and L. lactis and have found that many of these viral genomes exhibit codon bias, the tendency to preferentially encode a protein with a particular spelling. ...> Full Article

Monkey gene that blocks AIDS viruses evolved more than once (3/3/2008)

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a gene in Asian monkeys that may have evolved as a defense against lentiviruses, the group of viruses that includes HIV. The study, published February 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, suggests that AIDS is not a new epidemic. ...> Full Article

Tuatara evolving faster than any other species (3/2/2008)

New DNA research has questioned previous notions about the evolution of the tuatara. ...> Full Article

Genome of marine organism tells of animals' one-celled ancestors (2/15/2008)

The newly sequenced genome of a one-celled, planktonic marine organism, reported today (Thursday, Feb. 14) in the journal Nature, is already telling scientists about the evolutionary changes that accompanied the jump from one-celled life forms to multicellular animals like ourselves. ...> Full Article

Evolving complexity out of 'junk DNA' (2/13/2008)

'Junk DNA' could hold the secret of the evolutionary origin of complex animals, according to new research from Dartmouth College (NH, USA) and the University of Bristol (UK). ...> Full Article

Scientists rebuild ancient proteins to reveal primordial Earth's temperature (2/11/2008)

Using the genetic equivalent of an ancient thermometer, a team of scientists has determined that the Earth endured a massive cooling period between 500 million and 3.5 billion years ago. ...> Full Article

Mummy lice found in Peru may give new clues about human migration (2/8/2008)

Lice from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru may unravel important clues about a different sort of passage: the migration patterns of America's earliest humans, a new University of Florida study suggests. ...> Full Article

Lion Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Has Undergone Substantial Genetic Recombination (2/7/2008)

Parts of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) isolated from wild lions have undergone substantial genetic recombination, says new research. The sequencing of the two full FIV genomes of different lion subtypes shows the importance of whole-genome analysis in understanding complex genetic events. These findings will be relevant to big cat conservation and developing more effective animal models for HIV. ...> Full Article

You Are What You Eat: Some Differences Between Humans And Chimpanzees Traced To Diet (2/1/2008)

Using mice as models, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology traced some of the differences between humans and chimpanzees to differences in our diet. ...> Full Article

Genome scientists discover that evolution sometimes 'reinvents the wheel' (1/24/2008)

If a particular biological innovation is good enough to evolve once, it may sometimes be good enough to evolve multiple times independently in different species. ...> Full Article

Study discovers secret of Scottish sheep evolution (1/21/2008)

Researchers from the University of Sheffield, as part of an international team, have discovered the secret of why dark sheep on a remote Scottish Island are mysteriously declining, seemingly contradicting Darwin's evolutionary theory. ...> Full Article

Evolution of the Sexes: What a Fungus Can Tell Us (1/10/2008)

Fungi don't exactly come in boy and girl varieties, but they do have sex differences. In fact, a new finding from Duke University Medical Center shows that some of the earliest evolved forms of fungus contain clues to how the sexes evolved in higher animals, including that distant cousin of fungus, the human. ...> Full Article

Smell-wars Between Butterflies And Ants (1/7/2008)

Among humans, making yourself smell more alluring than you really are is a fairly harmless, socially accepted habit that maintains a complete perfume industry. However, it is a matter of life and death for caterpillars of large blue butterflies that dupe ant workers into believing them to be one of the ant's own larvae. ...> Full Article

Evolution Of Male-female Differences Within A Shared Genome (1/6/2008)

One of the major components of the world's biological diversity are the differences between males and females in traits related to mating, including weapons used when competing for mates and display traits used to seduce them. Such gender differences are thought to arise because selection acts differently on each sex. The conflicting interests of males and females in reproduction are thought to be a key source of sex-specific selection on such traits. ...> Full Article

New route for heredity bypasses DNA (1/6/2008)

A group of scientists in Princeton's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has uncovered a new biological mechanism that could provide a clearer window into a cell's inner workings. ...> Full Article

Hybridization Partially Restores Vision in Cavefish (1/4/2008)

Hybridizing blind cave fish from different cave populations can partially restore the vision of their offspring, biologists at New York University have found. The study suggests that genetic engineering can override, at least in part, half a million years of evolutionary change in one generation. ...> Full Article

Copy number variation may stem from replication misstep (12/28/2007)

Genome rearrangements, resulting in variations in the numbers of copies of genes, occur when the cellular process that copies DNA during cell division stalls and then switches to a different genetic "template," said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears today in the journal Cell. ...> Full Article

Life's six-legged survivors - evolutionary study shows beetles are in it for the long run (12/26/2007)

Most modern-day groups of beetles have been around since the time of the dinosaurs and have been diversifying ever since. ...> Full Article

Predator Pressures Maintain Bees' Social Life (12/25/2007)

The complex organisation of some insect societies is thought to have developed to such a level that these animals can no longer survive on their own. New research suggests that rather than organisational, genetic, or biological complexity defining a 'point of no return' for social living, pressures of predation create advantages to not living alone. ...> Full Article

Gene neighbors may have taken turns battling retroviruses (12/22/2007)

A cluster of antiviral genes in humans has likely battled retroviral invasions for millions of years. New research by Sara Sawyer, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow in the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, now finds that in addition to the previously identified TRIM5 gene that can defend against retroviruses like HIV, a related gene right next door, called TRIM22, may have participated in antiviral defense. ...> Full Article

Losses Of Long-established Genes Contribute To Human Evolution (12/21/2007)

While it is well understood that the evolution of new genes leads to adaptations that help species survive, gene loss may also afford a selective advantage. A group of scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz led by biomolecular engineering professor David Haussler has investigated this less-studied idea, carrying out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that have been lost across millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. ...> Full Article

Evolution With A Restricted Number Of Genes (12/20/2007)

The development of higher forms of life would appear to have been influenced by RNA polymerase II. This enzyme transcribes the information coded by genes from DNA into messenger-RNA (mRNA), which in turn is the basis for the production of proteins. RNA polymerase II is highly conserved through evolution, with many of its structural characteristics being conserved between bacteria and humans. ...> Full Article

Losses of long-established genes contributed to human evolution, scientists find (12/17/2007)

The evolution of new genes is not the only way for a species to change. The loss of genes may also lead to adaptations that help species survive, but this idea has not been well studied. Now, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have carried out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that were lost during the millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. Their findings appear in the December 14 issue of PLoS Computational Biology. ...> Full Article

Genome study places modern humans in the evolutionary fast lane (12/14/2007)

Countering a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a new study examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change, driven by exponential population growth and cultural shifts. ...> Full Article

Are Humans Evolving Faster? (12/12/2007)

Researchers discovered genetic evidence that human evolution is speeding up - and has not halted or proceeded at a constant rate, as had been thought - indicating that humans on different continents are becoming increasingly different. ...> Full Article

Keeping an eye on evolution (12/6/2007)

University of Queensland research has found the 'missing link' in the evolution of the eye. ...> Full Article

Flowering plants evolved very quickly into five groups (11/30/2007)

Scientists have shed light on what Charles Darwin called the "abominable mystery" of early plant evolution. ...> Full Article

Evolution Is Deterministic, Not Random, Biologists Conclude From Multi-Species Study (11/20/2007)

A multi-national team of biologists has concluded that developmental evolution is deterministic and orderly, rather than random, based on a study of different species of roundworms. ...> Full Article

'Time-sharing' birds key to evolutionary mystery (11/19/2007)

Whereas most birds are sole proprietors of their nests, some tropical species "time share" together - a discovery that helps clear up a 150-year-old evolutionary mystery. ...> Full Article

Parasites might spur evolution of strange amphibian breeding habits (11/18/2007)

Parasites can decimate amphibian populations, but one researcher believes they might also play a role in spurring the evolution of new and sometimes bizarre breeding strategies. ...> Full Article

Simple reason helps males evolve more quickly (11/17/2007)

The observation that males evolve more quickly than females has been around since 19th century biologist Charles Darwin noted the majesty of a peacock's tail feather in comparison with the plainness of the peahen's. ...> Full Article

Evolutionary Biology Research on Plant Shows Significance of Maternal Effects (11/16/2007)

When habitat changes, animals migrate. But how do immobile organisms like plants cope when faced with alterations to their environment? This is an increasingly important question in light of new environmental conditions brought on by global climate change. ...> Full Article

The bacteria can cheat on their mates (11/16/2007)

Pursuing our own short term interests by cheating on the rest of the population is not the preserve of the human race. It seems bacteria can operate in just the same way. ...> Full Article

Ancient retroviruses spurred evolution of gene regulatory networks in primates (11/14/2007)

When ancient retroviruses slipped bits of their DNA into the primate genome millions of years ago, they successfully preserved their own genetic legacy. Today an estimated 8 percent of the human genetic code consists of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs)--the DNA remnants from these so-called 'selfish parasites.' ...> Full Article

Changing environment organizes genetic structure (11/14/2007)

Study finds biological complexity arises from self-organizing structure of genes ...> Full Article

Are there rearrangement hot spots in the human genome? (11/13/2007)

The debate over the validity of genomic rearrangement "hotspots" has its most recent addition in a new theory put forth by researchers at the University of California San Diego. The study, published on November 9 in PLoS Computational Biology, holds that there are indeed rearrangement hotspots in the human genome. ...> Full Article

Genomic revelations from fly's family tree (11/12/2007)

Fruit fly genomes provide window to genome function, clues for mammal studies ...> Full Article

To fight disease, animals, like plants, can tolerate parasites (11/11/2007)

Animals, like plants, can build tolerance to infections at a genetic level, and these findings could provide a better understanding of the epidemiology and evolution of infectious disease, according to evolutionary biologists. ...> Full Article

When animals evolve on islands, size doesn't matter (11/9/2007)

A theory explaining the evolution of giant rodents, miniature elephants, and even miniature humans on islands has been called into question by new research ...> Full Article

When Are Genes 'Adventurous' And When Are They Conservative? (11/8/2007)

Taking a chance on an experiment – this is one of the impulses that drive evolution. Living cells are, from this angle, great subjects for experimentation: Changes in one molecule can have all sorts of interesting consequences for many other molecules in the cell. Such experiments on genes and proteins have led the cell, and indeed all life, on a long and fascinating evolutionary journey. ...> Full Article

A 'Risk Distribution Law' for Evolution (11/5/2007)

When are the genes adventuresome, and when are they conservative? ...> Full Article

Tangled Web Of The Insect, Plant And Parasite Arms Race (11/4/2007)

New insights into the evolutionary relationship between plant-dwelling insects and their parasites are revealed in the online open access journal BMC Biology. Researchers shed light on how sawflies evolved to escape their parasites and gain themselves an 'enemy-free space' for millions of years. ...> Full Article

In-group Altruism And Hostility Toward Outsiders Evolved Together (10/29/2007)

SFI researcher Samuel Bowles and colleague Jung-Kyoo Choi of Kyungpook National University in South Korea suggest that the altruistic and warlike aspects of human nature may have a common origin. ...> Full Article

Colorful View For First Land Animals (10/28/2007)

When prehistoric fish made their first forays onto land, what did they see? According to a study published in the online open access journal, BMC Evolutionary Biology, it's likely that creatures venturing out of the depths viewed their new environment in full colour. ...> Full Article

Key Found To Moonlight Romance On The Reef (10/22/2007)

Researchers have discovered what could be the aphrodisiac for the biggest moonlight sex event on Earth. ...> Full Article

Earliest Evolution of Vision Genes Discovered (10/17/2007)

'Opsin' genes found in aquatic relatives of corals, jellyfish, sea anemones ...> Full Article

Inconsistencies With Neanderthal Genomic DNA Sequences (10/15/2007)

Were Neanderthals direct ancestors of contemporary humans or an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out? ...> Full Article

The difference between fish and humans (10/13/2007)

Scientists answer century old developmental question ...> Full Article

Scientists Sequence Genome of Soil-Dwelling Green Alga (10/12/2007)

Results have implications for understanding early evolutionary events ...> Full Article

A gene divided reveals details of natural selection (10/11/2007)

In a molecular tour de force, researchers have provided an exquisitely detailed picture of natural selection as it occurs at the genetic level. ...> Full Article

Which Came First, the Chicken Genome or the Egg Genome? (10/9/2007)

Researchers have answered a similarly vexing (and far more relevant) genomic question: Which of the thousands of long stretches of repeated DNA in the human genome came first? And which are the duplicates? ...> Full Article

Evolution Transforms 'Junk' DNA into Genetic Machinery (10/6/2007)

Evolution has mastered the art of turning trash to treasure - though, for scientists, witnessing the transformation can require a bit of patience. In new genetic research, scientists have traced the 170 million-year evolution of a piece of "junk" DNA to its modern incarnation as an important regulator of energy balance in mammals. ...> Full Article

Researchers devise way to calculate rates of evolution (10/5/2007)

"Survival of the fittest" has popularly described evolution for more than a century, but a new study published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters provides further evidence that random genetic mutations over millions of years may also play a powerful role. ...> Full Article

Census of protein architectures offers new view of history of life (10/4/2007)

The present can tell you a lot about the past, but you need to know where to look. A new study appearing this month in Genome Research reveals that protein architectures - the three-dimensional structures of specific regions within proteins - provide an extraordinary window on the history of life. ...> Full Article

Three-way mating game of North American lizard found in distant European relative (10/2/2007)

An intricate three-way mating struggle first observed in a species of North American lizard has been discovered in a distant relative, the European common lizard. The two species are separated by 5,000 miles and 175 million years of evolution, yet they share behavioral and reproductive details right down to the gaudy colors of the males. ...> Full Article

Wasp genetics study suggests altruism evolved from maternal behavior (9/29/2007)

Researchers have used an innovative approach to reveal the molecular basis of altruistic behavior in wasps. The research team focused on the expression of behavior-related genes in Polistes metricus paper wasps, a species for which little genetic data was available when the study was begun. ...> Full Article

Primate Sperm Competition: Speed Matters (9/26/2007)

Researchers have found evidence that supports the theory that reproductive competition during the evolution of primate species has occurred at the level of sperm cell motility. ...> Full Article

Gene Involved In Human Language Development Also Involved In Bat Echolocation (9/24/2007)

When it comes to the FOXP2 gene, humans have had most to shout about. Discoveries that mutations in this gene lead to speech defects and that the gene underwent changes around the time language evolved both implicate FOXP2 in the evolution of human language. ...> Full Article

Love the one you're with: Species still have more viable offspring if they can choose their best mate, but there are ways around even poor substitutes (9/21/2007)

New research shows that when animals must choose less-than-preferred mates, females and males apparently have ways to compensate that increase the chance their offspring will survive. ...> Full Article

Gene determines whether male body odor smells pleasant (9/18/2007)

To many, urine smells like urine and vanilla smells like vanilla. But androstenone, a derivative of testosterone that is a potent ingredient in male body odor, can smell like either - depending on your genes. While many people ascribe a foul odor to androstenone, usually that of stale urine or strong sweat, others find the scent sweet and pleasant. Still others cannot smell it at all. ...> Full Article

What Makes One Wasp Queen? Old Developmental Pathways Spawn Revolutionary Evolutionary Changes (9/17/2007)

When the larvae of the primitive social insect Polistes metricus, a paper wasp, slips into the quiet pupal stage, she doesn't know if she'll arise a worker or gyne (future queen) -- unless she consults with Arizona State University's social insect researcher Gro Amdam. ...> Full Article

Study reveals predation-evolution link (9/12/2007)

The fossil record seems to indicate that the diversity of marine creatures increased and decreased over hundreds of millions of years in step with predator-prey encounters ...> Full Article

Genes' life stories unfold (9/10/2007)

Scientists develop method to decipher gene history at genome-wide level; initial use in fungi turns up evolutionary surprises ...> Full Article

Moray Eels Are Uniquely Equipped to Pack Big Prey Into Their Narrow Bodies (9/7/2007)

How do long, slender snake-like creatures manage to stuff large, struggling prey into their narrow mouths and down their throats without using paws or claws? A new study reveals that the slender, snake-like moray eel--which may reach up to about nine feet in length--captures and consumes its prey (usually large fish, octopuses and squid) with a unique strategy that involves using two sets of jaws. ...> Full Article

A global view: Researchers build microRNA atlas (9/7/2007)

Building a comprehensive microRNA expression atlas is not easy. Just ask the Rockefeller University scientists who, in a massive collaborative effort involving 50 investigators from six countries, led the project. In three years, they catalogued microRNA expression patterns in more than 250 healthy and diseased cell and tissue samples - human and rodent - from 26 different organ systems, and in the process discovered several dozen new microRNAs as well. ...> Full Article

Color Night Vision In The Aye-Aye, A Most Unusual Primate (9/6/2007)

A quest to gain a more complete picture of color vision evolution has led Biodesign Institute researcher Brian Verrelli to an up-close, genetic encounter with one of the world's most rare and bizarre-looking primates. ...> Full Article

Ultraconserved Elements in the Genome: Are They Indispensable? (9/6/2007)

Three years ago, "ultraconserved elements" were discovered in the genomes of mice, rats, and humans. These are DNA sequences 200 base pairs in length or longer — some are over 700 base pairs long — showing 100-percent identity among the three species. They have been perfectly conserved since the last common ancestor of mice, rats, and humans, which lived some 85 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Selection on genes underlying schizophrenia during human evolution (9/6/2007)

Several genes with strong associations to schizophrenia have evolved rapidly due to selection during human evolution, according to new research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. ...> Full Article

Genetic Trigger For The Cambrian Explosion Possibly Unraveled (9/4/2007)

A team of scientists led by young Croatian evolutionary geneticist Tomislav Domazet-Lošo from Ruder Boškovic Institute (RBI) in Zagreb, Croatia, developed a novel methodological approach in evolutionary studies. Using the method they named 'genomic phylostratigraphy', its authors shed new and unexpected light on some of the long standing macroevolutionary issues, which have been puzzling evolutionary biologists since Darwin. ...> Full Article

Ethiopian Plateau Formation Coincided With Climate Change That May Have Spurred Human Evolution (9/2/2007)

More than three million years ago, early hominins evolved the ability to walk upright and in doing so started us along the evolutionary path that eventually gave rise to Homo sapiens. ...> Full Article

Anthropologist Publishes Research on Warfare Paradox (8/31/2007)

Some leading scientists who have studied warfare through the ages have long suggested that humans — the males of the species, at least — have little choice when it comes to slaughtering one another in great numbers. Such warlike behavior, the scholars contend, is hardwired into the human brain. ...> Full Article

One Species' Genome Discovered Inside Another Species' Genome (8/31/2007)

Bacterial to animal gene transfers shown to be widespread, with implications for evolution and control of diseases and pests ...> Full Article

Attack by cuckoos and cowbirds inherited from mothers (8/30/2007)

Brood parasitic birds, which place their eggs in a nest for other birds to care for, can act like an inherited disease, affecting future generations of the birds they victimize. ...> Full Article

How To Share A Bat (8/29/2007)

New Study Demonstrates Flowers Evolve Different Shapes to Reduce Competition for Bat Pollination ...> Full Article

A computer simulation shows how evolution may have speeded up (8/29/2007)

Is heading straight for a goal the quickest way there? If the name of the game is evolution, suggests new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the pace might speed up if the goals themselves change continuously. ...> Full Article

Expert uses DNA to time travel (8/25/2007)

How does genetic information from more than 100,000 years ago help to explain climate changes through time and their effect on plant and human populations? ...> Full Article

Rubbish heaps helped crops evolve (8/23/2007)

Rubbish heaps and backyard gardens helped early farmers domesticate crop plants, according to Oxford University scientists. Their research confirms that seeds and fruits gathered in the wild and then discarded or planted at home created a 'backyard melting pot' that gave rise to novel hybrids. Ancient people were quick to spot useful hybrids and start growing them as crops as the first village farms were established, around 4,000 years ago. ...> Full Article

The giant panda holds potential for further evolution (8/22/2007)

Employing microsatellite and mitochondrial control region (CR) sequences as genetic markers, CAS researchers have obtained some key information about the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and depicted its recent evolution history. They discovered that the lovely species still possesses high genetic diversity and evolution potentials, putting an end to the hypothesis suggesting the giant panda is facing an 'evolutionary dead-end'. ...> Full Article

Bacteria Mutate Much More Than Previously Thought (8/20/2007)

Portuguese scientists show that in bacteria the rate of beneficial mutations – those that increase the capacity of an organism to survive in a particular environment – is much higher than previously thought. ...> Full Article

Conquest of land began in shark genome (8/17/2007)

When the first four-legged animals sprouted fingers and toes, they took an ancient genetic recipe and simply extended the cooking time, say University of Florida scientists writing in Wednesday's issue of the journal PLoS One. ...> Full Article

Structure of 450 million year old protein reveals evolution's steps (8/17/2007)

A detailed map that pinpoints the location of every atom in a 450-million-year-old resurrected protein reveals the precise evolutionary steps needed to create the molecule's modern version, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Oregon. ...> Full Article

Evolution is Driven by Gene Regulation (8/12/2007)

It is not just what's in your genes, it's how you turn them on that accounts for the difference between species - at least in yeast - according to a report by Yale researchers in this week's issue of Science. ...> Full Article

Fossils Paint New Picture Of Human Evolution (8/9/2007)

Two new fossils, described this week in the journal Nature, cast fresh light on a little understood and important period of human prehistory at the dawn of our own genus, Homo. ...> Full Article

Scientists Plant Self-Pollination Idea (8/8/2007)

Studies in Science Express and Nature Genetics revise an understanding of sex evolution and genetic heritage. ...> Full Article

Early Humans In China One Million Years Ago (8/7/2007)

Chronology and adaptability of early humans in different paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental settings are important topics in the study of human evolution. ...> Full Article

Immunity In Social Amoeba Suggests Ancient Beginnings (8/7/2007)

Finding an immune system in the social amoeba (Dictyostelium discoideum) is not only surprising but it also may prove a clue as to what is necessary for an organism to become multicellular, said the Baylor College of Medicine researcher who led the research that appears in the journal Science. ...> Full Article

Rare Example of Darwinism Seen in Action (8/7/2007)

A research team, including UC Riverside biologists, has found experimental evidence that supports a controversial theory of genetic conflict in the reproduction of those animals that support their developing offspring through a placenta. ...> Full Article

Coelacanth Fossil Sheds Light On Fin-To-Limb Evolution (8/5/2007)

A 400 million-year-old fossil of a coelacanth fin, the first finding of its kind, fills a shrinking evolutionary gap between fins and limbs. University of Chicago scientists describe the finding in a paper highlighted on the cover of the July/August 2007 issue of Evolution & Development. ...> Full Article

Fossils Older Than Dinosaurs Reveal Pattern Of Early Animal Evolution On Earth (8/3/2007)

The abundant diversity of characteristics within species likely helped fuel the proliferation and evolution of an odd-looking creature that emerged from an unprecedented explosion of life on Earth more than 500 million years ago. University of Chicago paleontologist Mark Webster reports this finding in the July 27 issue of the journal Science. ...> Full Article

Biologist Receives Grant To Study Beetle Horn Evolution (8/2/2007)

With the aid of a $530,000, three-year National Science Foundation grant, Indiana University Bloomington biologist Armin Moczek will continue his research into the origin and diversification of beetle horns. Horned beetles are increasingly being recognized as a new model system in evolutionary and developmental biology, and this is the second NSF grant given to Moczek to further develop his study system. ...> Full Article

Genomics Study Provides Insight Into The Evolution Of Unique Human Traits, Including Endurance Running (8/2/2007)

Today, researchers from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC), along with colleagues from Stanford University, report the results of a large-scale, genome-wide study to investigate gene copy number differences among ten primate species, including humans. ...> Full Article

Species Detectives Track Unseen Evolution (7/21/2007)

New species are evading detection using a foolproof disguise -- their own unchanged appearance. Research published in the journal, BMC Evolutionary Biology, suggests that the phenomenon of different animal species not being visually distinct despite other significant genetic differences is widespread in the animal kingdom. ...> Full Article

How Pathogens Evolve To Escape Detection (7/20/2007)

An arms race is under way in the plant world. It is an evolutionary battle in which plants are trying to beef up their defenses against the innovative strategies of pathogens. The latest example of this war is a bacterium (Pseudomonas syringae) that infects tomatoes by injecting a special protein into the plant's cells and undermines the plant's defense system. ...> Full Article

Rapid Evolution Of Non-Coding DNA Since The Split Between Human And Chimp Genome (7/18/2007)

A difference of only a few percent in DNA sequence is thought to separate the human and chimp genomes. New research published in Genome Biology identifies the subset of sequences that may have driven the evolution of our two species. ...> Full Article

A First-Principles Model Of Early Evolution (7/17/2007)

In a study publishing in PLoS Computational Biology, Shakhnovich et al present a new model of early biological evolution -- the first that directly relates the fitness of a population of evolving model organisms to the properties of their proteins. ...> Full Article

Evidence Of Very Recent Human Adaptation: Up To 10 Percent Of Human Genome May Have Changed (7/16/2007)

A Cornell study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years, when people began migrating from Africa. ...> Full Article

How Plants Learned To Respond To Changing Environments (7/15/2007)

A team of John Innes Centre scientists led by Professor Nick Harberd have discovered how plants evolved the ability to adapt to changes in climate and environment. Plants adapt their growth, including key steps in their life cycle such as germination and flowering, to take advantage of environmental conditions . They can also repress growth when their environment is not favourable. This involves many complex signalling pathways which are integrated by the plant growth hormone gibberellin. ...> Full Article

Professor Probing The Evolution Of Tropical Orchids (7/14/2007)

John Cushman, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology professor, is making great strides in the ongoing research of plants with the metabolic ability to use less water than other plants. ...> Full Article

Exploring the Genetic Diversity of Flowers (7/13/2007)

Unlike moths and butterflies that are often brilliantly colored to warn potential predators that they carry toxins, flowers and the fruits they produce have brilliant colors and unusual shapes because they want to attract the attention of pollinators and frugivores who will disperse their pollen and seed, thus guaranteeing the next generation. ...> Full Article

Neutral Evolution Has Helped Shape Our Genome (7/11/2007)

Johns Hopkins researchers have added to the growing mound of evidence that many of the genetic bits and pieces that drive evolutionary changes do not confer any advantages or disadvantages to humans or other animals. ...> Full Article

Investigating Life In Extreme Environments Report Gives Hints On Life (7/9/2007)

From the deepest seafloor to the highest mountain, from the hottest region to the cold Antarctic plateau, environments labelled as extreme are numerous on Earth and they present a wide variety of features and characteristics. ...> Full Article

Book Makes Case For Using Evolution In Everyday Life (7/3/2007)

Evolution is not just about human origins, dinosaurs and fossils, says Binghamton University evolutionist David Sloan Wilson. It can also be applied to almost every aspect of human life, as he demonstrates in his first book for a general audience, Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives (Bantam Press 2007). ...> Full Article

Trade-Offs Between Force And Fit Shape Beetles (7/2/2007)

Large jaws are efficient in crushing hard prey, whereas small jaws are functional in capturing elusive prey. Researchers have suggested that such trade-offs between "force" and "velocity"ť could cause evolutionary diversification of morphology in animals such as birds, fish, and salamanders. Junji Konuma and Satoshi Chiba of Tohoku University found that a new trade-off exists in animal feeding behavior. The team suggests that diversification of carabid beetles could be caused by a "force" and "fit" trade-off. ...> Full Article

Study Profiles Microbes that Colonize Babies Digestive Tracts (7/1/2007)

For more than 100 years, scientists have known that humans carry a rich ecosystem within their intestines. An astonishing number and variety of microbes, including as many as 400 species of bacteria, help humans digest food, mitigate disease, regulate fat storage, and even promote the formation of blood vessels. By applying sophisticated genetic analysis to samples of a year's worth baby poop, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have now developed a detailed picture of how these bacteria come and go in the intestinal tract during a child's first year of life. ...> Full Article

Modern Brains Have An Ancient Core (7/1/2007)

Multifunctional neurons that sense the environment and release hormones are the evolutionary basis of our brains ...> Full Article

Gossip An Evolutionary Tool Not A Character Flaw (7/1/2007)

A new study in Journal of Applied Social Psychology suggests that gossip is not a character flaw, but an evolved mechanism for maintaining status in one's social group. "The results of our study confirmed a consistent pattern of interest in gossip that is exploitable for social gain," says study author Francis McAndrew. "Specifically, damaging, negative news about rivals and positive news about friends and lovers was especially prized and likely to be passed on." ...> Full Article

Study Shows Successful Fathers Have Less Successful Daughters (6/30/2007)

he strongest and fittest of a species might be expected to produce the best offspring, but this is not always the case, researchers at the University have found. ...> Full Article

Laboratory Experiments Take The Express Route To Evolution (6/28/2007)

Laboratory experiments have enabled researchers to bypass half a billion years of evolution, giving one protein the ability to function like a distantly related protein with just a few simple changes. The elegant experiments illustrate a powerful way to probe the structure of proteins and may open a way to making more effective pharmaceuticals. ...> Full Article

Birds, Bees, and Moths Drive Flower Evolution (6/9/2007)

Flowers evolve in a predictable fashion to match the mouthparts of pollinating birds and insects, rather than engaging in a gradual "arms race" between flower and pollinator, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Santa Barbara. An article describing the study is published in the June 7 issue of the journal Nature. ...> Full Article

DNA Clues To Inform Conservation In Africa (5/25/2007)

Tracing the evolutionary history of wildlife could improve global habitat conservation, a major Cardiff University study has found. ...> Full Article

Discovery Of Ecological And Metabolic Roles Of Archaea In Hot Springs May Shed Light On Early Evolution (5/24/2007)

Discovered in the late 1970s, archaea are one of the three main branches on the tree of life, with bacteria and eukaryotes such as plants and animals on the other two branches. But scientists are just now gaining a fuller understanding of what archaea do – in an ecological sense – to make a living. ...> Full Article

Creating Proteins By Synthetic Evolution (5/24/2007)

Nature, through the trial and error of evolution, has discovered a vast diversity of life from what can only presumed to have been a primordial pool of building blocks. Inspired by this success, a new Biodesign Institute research team, led by John Chaput, is now trying to mimic the process of Darwinian evolution in the laboratory by evolving new proteins from scratch. Using new tricks of molecular biology, Chaput and co-workers have evolved several new proteins in a fraction of the 3 billion years it took nature. ...> Full Article

Circadian Clocks Explained (5/22/2007)

Circadian clocks regulate the timing of biological functions in almost all higher organisms. Anyone who has flown through several time zones knows the jet lag that can result when this timing is disrupted. ...> Full Article

Amphibian Evolution in Losing Race With Environmental Change (5/20/2007)

Even though they had the ability to evolve and survive for hundreds of millions of years - since before the time of the dinosaurs and through many climatic regimes - the massive, worldwide decline of amphibians can best be understood by their inability to keep pace with the current rate of global change, a new study suggests. ...> Full Article

Study Of Protein Folds Offers Insight Into Metabolic Evolution (5/19/2007)

Researchers at the University of Illinois have constructed the first global family tree of metabolic protein architecture. Their approach offers a new window on the evolutionary history of metabolism. ...> Full Article

DNA Study Shows Caribbean Bats Migrate to Mainland to Breed (5/9/2007)

Ever since the relationship between land area and number of species crystallized into a mathematical power function, islands and island archipelagoes have been thought of as biological destinations where species from large continents arrive and, over time, evolve into new species in geographic seclusion. ...> Full Article

Team Sheds Light on Long-Sought Cold Sensation Gene (5/7/2007)

For years, scientists have struggled to identify the genes responsible for mammals' sensation of cold. Finally, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Novartis Research Foundation have shown that a gene called TRPM8 is responsible for the bulk of this ability in mice. ...> Full Article

Gene Helps Distinguish Self from Non-Self During Neural Development (5/7/2007)

Like the elegant branching of a tree, the dendritic limbs of developing nerve cells must organize themselves to cover as much space as they can evenly and efficiently. To complicate matters, they must also take care to avoid overlapping with their sister dendrites. ...> Full Article

Arsenic-Absorbing Fern May Soak Up Toxic Metal To Repel Hungry Bugs (5/5/2007)

In the struggle for survival, plants are often at the mercy of hungry animals - but one fern has turned the tables by using poisonous arsenic to reduce its appeal, say University of Florida researchers. ...> Full Article

Ape Gestures Offer Clues to the Evolution of Human Communication (5/4/2007)

Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have found bonobos and chimpanzees use manual gestures of their hands, feet and limbs more flexibly than they do facial expressions and vocalizations, further supporting the evolution of human language began with gestures as the gestural origin hypothesis of language suggests. This study appears in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...> Full Article

Researcher Shed Light On Diet Of Early Human Ancestors (5/3/2007)

Eight years ago, the field of anthropology was rocked by isotopic evidence that suggested one-third of the diet of early human ancestors consisted of grasses and sedges, or the tissue of animals that ate such plants. The news puzzled scientists, who were unable to reconcile the results with what they knew about the teeth of human ancestors who lived more than 2 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Scientists Create Historical Map Of Avian Flu Migration And Genetic Evolution (5/1/2007)

Scientists here have designed a new, interactive map of the spread of the avian flu virus (H5N1) that for the first time incorporates genetic, geographic and evolutionary information that may help predict where the next outbreak of the virus is likely to occur. ...> Full Article

Parasite Supports Host By Becoming Fertility Aid (4/28/2007)

Bacteria that commonly infect insects have evolved from parasites to being a fertility aid. The bacteria could eventually be targeted as an option for pest control in order to kill common human disease carriers such as mosquitoes. ...> Full Article

What Is Dollo's Law, And How Are Sea Snails Breaking It? (4/27/2007)

Lizards gave rise to legless snakes. Cave fishes don't have eyeballs. In evolution, complicated structures often get lost. Dollo's Law states that complicated structures can't be re-evolved because the genes that code for them were lost or have mutated. A group of sea snails breaks Dollo's law, Rachel Collin, Staff Scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and colleagues from two Chilean universities announce in the April, 2007, Biological Bulletin. ...> Full Article

Placental Mammals Newer Than Previously Thought (4/21/2007)

Despite great progress over the past decade, the evolutionary history of placental mammals remains controversial. While a consensus is emerging on the topology of the evolutionary tree, although with occasional disagreement, divergence times remain uncertain. The age of earlier nodes and in particular the root, remain especially uncertain in the absence of definitive placental fossils deeper into the Cretaceous. ...> Full Article

Human-Chimp Gene Study Upsets Long-Held View (4/19/2007)

Put a human and a chimpanzee side by side, and it seems obvious which lineage has changed the most since the two diverged from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Such apparent physical differences, along with human speech, language and brainpower, have led many people to believe that natural selection has acted in a positive manner on more genes in humans than in chimps. ...> Full Article

When Fish First Started Biting (4/18/2007)

Before fish began to invade land, about 365 million years ago, they had some big problems to solve. They needed to come up with new ways to move, breathe, and eat. ...> Full Article

Scientists Explain Why We Vary In Attractiveness (4/17/2007)

Newcastle University researchers believe they have solved a mystery that has puzzled evolutionary scientists for years ... if 'good' genes spread through the population, why are individuals so different? ...> Full Article

Genetic Archaeology Finds Clues to Pregnancy in Male Pipefish and Seahorses (4/16/2007)

Genetic archaeology is providing a new clue to one of the greatest gender mysteries in the fish world: how did male pregnancy evolve in a family of fish? ...> Full Article

Man's Best Friend Lends Insight Into Human Evolution (4/15/2007)

Flexibly drawing inferences about the intentions of other individuals in order to cooperate in complex tasks is a basic part of everyday life that we humans take for granted. But, according to evolutionary psychologist Brian Hare at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, this ability is present in other species as well. ...> Full Article

Disputing Coevolution In Herbivorous Insects (4/12/2007)

Coleoptera (beetles) are one of the most successful groups of organisms on Earth. Their success in evolutionary terms is recognised by their extreme adaptive diversity (occupying almost every possible ecological niche) and their longevity (fossils from the Palaeozoic, 280 million years ago). But most of all, their success is indisputable in their sheer species numbers: with over 350,000 named species and many more to be described, they constitute about one fourth of all species on the Planet! ...> Full Article

Why Are There So Many More Species Of Insects? Because Insects Have Been Here Longer (4/8/2007)

J. B. S. Haldane once famously quipped that "God is inordinately fond of beetles." Results of a study by Mark A. McPeek of Dartmouth College and Jonathan M. Brown of Grinnell College suggest that this fondness was expressed not by making so many, but rather by allowing them to persist for so long. ...> Full Article

Carrying Heavy Objects Caused Humans to Evolve Upright Posture (4/6/2007)

The next time you are struggling to carry your bags home from the supermarket just remember that this could, in fact, be the reason you are able to walk upright on two legs at all! How we have evolved to walk on two legs remains a fundamental but, as yet, unresolved question for scientists. A popular explanation is that it is our ability to carry objects, particularly children, which forced early hominins onto two legs. ...> Full Article

'Selfish DNA' driving insecticide resistance (4/2/2007)

Transposable elements, sometimes called ‘selfish DNA’, can be responsible for insecticide resistance, according to scientists from the Universities of Exeter, Bath and Melbourne. Transposable elements (TEs) can ‘jump around’ the genome and cause mutations by inserting into the coding regions of genes and disrupting or altering, and in this case increasing, gene function. ...> Full Article

Biologists call for better choice of model organisms in 'evo-devo' (4/2/2007)

Research in evolutionary developmental biology, known as ‘evo-devo’, is being held back because the dominant model organisms used by scientists are unable to illustrate key questions about evolution, argue biologists in the latest issue of Nature Reviews Genetics. ...> Full Article

Anthropologist Studies Evolution's Disgusting Side (4/1/2007)

Behind every wave of disgust that comes your way may be a biological imperative much greater than the urge to lose your lunch, according to a growing body of research by a UCLA anthropologist. ...> Full Article

Role of dinosaur demise in mammal rise challenged (3/31/2007)

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. ...> Full Article

New link shown between genetics, climate change and population growth in sheep (3/26/2007)

Study investigates how genetically-controlled physical traits affect population dynamics ...> Full Article

Study Determines How People Recognize Family Members as Close Genetic Relatives (3/26/2007)

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. ...> Full Article

No sex for 40 million years? No problem. (3/26/2007)

New research shows that tiny asexual creatures have managed to evolve into different species ...> Full Article

Scientist Develops New Mathematical Model To Study Disease Genetics And Evolution (3/25/2007)

USC College computational biologist Peter Calabrese has developed a new model to simulate the evolution of so-called recombination hotspots in the genome. ...> Full Article

New Bird Species Discovered In Idaho Sheds Light on Co-evolutionary Arms Race (3/19/2007)

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

RNA enzyme structure offers a glimpse into the origins of life (3/17/2007)

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. ...> Full Article

Species Evolve Faster in Cold Climates (3/17/2007)

University of British Columbia researchers have discovered that contrary to common belief, species do not evolve faster in warmer climates. ...> Full Article

'Ancestral Eve' Was Mother of All Tooth Decay (3/17/2007)

NYU College of Dentistry Study Finds Humans and their Oral Bacteria Evolved From a Common African Ancestor ...> Full Article

Long legs are more efficient (3/13/2007)

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

Gene Mutations That Survive Negative Selection Spread Fastest Via Positive Selection (3/11/2007)

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. ...> Full Article

New study rewrites evolutionary history of vespid wasps (3/5/2007)

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

Early Europeans unable to stomach milk (2/27/2007)

The first direct evidence that early Europeans were unable to digest milk has been found by scientists at UCL (University College London) and Mainz University. ...> Full Article

Tummy bugs migrated with humans out of Africa (2/21/2007)

New research shows that Helicobacter pylori has been with humans for thousands of years, and have followed us out of Africa. ...> Full Article

Studies of population genetics, evolution are an exercise in bad taste (2/20/2007)

Scientific studies of why foods such as Brussels sprouts and stout beer are horribly bitter-tasting to some people but palatable to others are shedding light on a number of questions, from the mechanisms of natural selection to understanding how our genes affect our dietary habits. ...> Full Article

Proving Horizontal Gene Transfer in Humans (2/15/2007)

Darwin’s theory of natural selection is considered by most scientists to be correct, the mechanism that allows it to occur has been hard to nail down though. Many scientists have claimed that it is the accumulation of minor genetic mutations over time. As new traits are developed they will be passed on only if the trait gives the bearer some advantage. The inverse of this is also true, in that if an organism inherits a trait like a disease, then they may not be around long enough to pass on the trait. ...> Full Article

Lactose tolerance gene proves Natural Selection in humans (2/7/2007)

This unassuming gene, may be the strongest genetic evidence that Darwin's natural selection has occurred (and still does occur) in humans. ...> Full Article

Gene Swapping VS Gene Theft (1/30/2007)

Researchers at Rice University have created a mathematical model that argues that evolution doesn't proceed solely through breeding and genetic mutations. The theory suggests that organisms also swap large sections of DNA. ...> Full Article

Skull Is First Fossil Proof of Human Migration Theory out of Africa (1/16/2007)

The skull was originally unearthed from a riverbed near Hofmeyr, South Africa, in 1952 but was never accurately dated. Frederick E. Grine, an anthropologist and anatomist at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, saw the skull in an office in Cape Town, South Africa, and was struck by its similarities to the skulls of the first modern humans found in Europe. ...> Full Article