What animals can tell us about sleeping
Sleep forms a basic part of our everyday lives, yet surprisingly little is known about its purpose and evolutionary history.
View ArticleTracking the evolutionary path of animals thriving in human-dominated...
An evolutionary framework aiming to track the pathways wild organisms followed to survive and thrive in environments dominated by humans has been developed for the first time.
View ArticleChanges in primate teeth linked to rise of monkeys
University of California, Berkeley paleontologists have identified distinctive features of primate teeth that allow them to track the evolution of our ape and monkey ancestors, shedding light on a...
View ArticleGalápagos faces first-ever bird extinction
Scientists have discovered a new species of colorful songbird in the Galápagos Islands, with one catch: it's extinct. Researchers from the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco State University...
View ArticleNew species of extinct river dolphin discovered in Smithsonian collection
A fossil that has been in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History since it was discovered in 1951 is today helping scientists piece together the evolutionary history of...
View ArticleGenetic study of skinks suggests extreme matrotrophy evolved only once in Africa
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with Villanova University in the U.S. and associates from South Africa, Germany and Switzerland has found via genetic study that extreme matrotrophy evolved just once...
View ArticleFrom unknown to beardog: Findings rescue fossils from 'trashbin' genus
Large, ferocious-looking animals called beardogs—neither bears nor dogs - roamed the northern hemisphere between about 40 and 5 million years ago.
View ArticleAutism and human evolutionary success
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,...
View ArticleBandicoot and bilby review finds gaps in current knowledge
The evolutionary history of a group of native Australasian marsupials that look like a cross between a rabbit and a rat require further research to fill in knowledge gaps, a review by Perth academics...
View ArticleStudy of the evolution of the micro-crustacean group Cladocera
Scientists of the Senckenberg Institute have studied the evolutionary history of the so-called "water fleas." These tiny crustaceans from the order Cladocera form the basis of the trophic pyramid and...
View ArticleNew ancient otter species among largest ever found
Dr. Denise Su, curator and head of paleobotany and paleoecology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History was co-author on new research that described a species of otter new to science and that is...
View ArticleNew fossil discovery suggests sea life bounced back after the 'Great Dying'...
(Phys.org)—An international team of researchers has found a trove of marine fossils at a North American site that offers evidence of life bouncing back faster than thought after the most devastating...
View ArticleDating the undatables
Asian Horned frogs account for approximately half of the ancient family of frogs called Megophryidae. This group was previously estimated to have originated 100-126 million years ago (mya). Frogs of...
View ArticleShedding new light on the evolution of the squid
Octopus, cuttlefish and squid are well known in the invertebrate world. With their ink-squirting decoy technique, ability to change colour, bizarre body plan and remarkable intelligence they highlight...
View ArticleThe proteins that domesticated our genomes
EPFL scientists have carried out a genomic and evolutionary study of a large and enigmatic family of human proteins, to demonstrate that it is responsible for harnessing the millions of transposable...
View ArticleNew study shakes the roots of the dinosaur family tree
More than a century of theory about the evolutionary history of dinosaurs has been turned on its head following the publication of new research from scientists at the University of Cambridge and...
View ArticleLice and their bacterial sidekicks have evolved together for millions of years
A Florida Museum of Natural History study provides new insights into the complex, shared history between blood-sucking lice and the vitamin-producing bacterial sidekicks that enable them to parasitize...
View ArticleUrbanisation costs 5 billion years of evolutionary history
All over the globe, the urbanisation of landscapes is increasing. 60% of the land surface which is expected to be urban by 2030 is currently not built on at all. How this will impact on biological...
View ArticleHow dinosaurs may have evolved into birds
Tohoku University researchers and their international collaborators have identified a possible genetic mechanism underlying the evolution of birds, according to a recently published study in Nature...
View ArticleNew insights into the ancestors of all complex life
A team of scientists led by the University of Bristol has provided new insights into the origins of the Archaea, the group of simple cellular organisms that are the ancestors of all complex life.
View ArticlePaleobiologists make intriguing new discoveries about dinosaur ancestors
An international group of researchers has discovered that the most ancient dinosaurs' ancestors were quadrupedal.
View ArticleStudy doesn't support theory red and eastern wolves are recent hybrids,...
A team led by University of Idaho researchers is calling into question a widely publicized 2016 study that concluded eastern and red wolves are not distinct species, but rather recent hybrids of gray...
View ArticleResearchers use supercomputers to study snake evolution, unique traits
Evolution takes eons, but it leaves marks on the genomes of organisms that can be detected with DNA sequencing and analysis.
View ArticleSize not important for fish in the largest mass extinction of all time
Understanding modern biodiversity and extinction threats is important. It is commonly assumed that being large contributes to vulnerability during extinction crises.
View ArticleParasite revealed—new insights into dicyemida
Revealing the origin and evolutionary history of the world's manifold life forms is one way in which we seek to understand them. Even the smallest creature can yield fascinating insights. For example,...
View ArticleAmerican oaks share a common northern ancestor
If you had been in northern Canada 45 million years ago, you might have encountered the distant ancestor of all of the oaks in the Americas. That single species gave rise to 220 more and two distinct...
View ArticleFrightened of spiders? It could be in your DNA
Hypodermic needles, houseflies: both potentially threatening or repulsive but neither elicit the same response in the subjects of a recent experiment. The gut reaction of the many who experience...
View ArticleNew postcranial skeleton of ancient dolphin Albertocetus meffordum found in...
A partial skeleton from an Oligocene dolphin species was found in South Carolina, according to a study published November 8, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Robert Boessenecker from the...
View ArticleCultural evolution has not freed hunter-gatherers from environmental forcing
Because of culture, humans are often considered to be divorced from the environment and not under the same ecological forcing as other species. However, in a new paper published in Proceedings of the...
View ArticleA survival lesson from bats—eating variety keeps species multiplying
Diet is an important factor influencing the survival and evolution of all species. Many studies have shown that when species evolve from being a predator or insectivore to being a vegetarian, the rate...
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