Quantcast
Channel: Phys.org: Evolution News
Browsing latest articles
Browse All 39 View Live

Common back problems may be caused by evolution of human locomotion

A common spinal disease could be the result of some people's vertebrae, the bones that make up the spine, sharing similarities in shape to a non-human primate. The research, published in the open...

View Article



Conifer study illustrates twists of evolution

A new study offers not only a sweeping analysis of how pollination has evolved among conifers but also an illustration of how evolution—far from being a straight-ahead march of progress—sometimes...

View Article

Diverse sea creatures evolved to reach same swimming solution

The ability to move one's body rapidly through water is a key to existence for many species on this blue planet of ours. The Persian carpet flatworm, the cuttlefish and the black ghost knifefish look...

View Article

The science behind spite

Psychology, biology, and mathematics have come together to show that the occurrence of altruism and spite - helping or harming others at a cost to oneself - depends on similarity not just between two...

View Article

Evolution in action: Mate competition weeds out GM fish from population

Purdue University research found that wild-type zebrafish consistently beat out genetically modified Glofish in competition for female mates, an advantage that led to the disappearance of the transgene...

View Article


Study explores the moment when ancient societies began to 'take a village to...

Hillary Clinton once famously said, "It takes a village to raise a child." It turns out that's been true for centuries: New research by a University of Utah anthropologist explains how and why mothers...

View Article

Tortoise approach works best—even for evolution

When it comes to winning evolutionary fitness races, the tortoise once again prevails over the hare.

View Article

In evolution, 'house of cards' model wins

Using sophisticated modeling of genomic data from diverse species, Yale researchers have answered a longstanding question about which competing model of evolution works best.

View Article


Population benefits of sexual selection explain the existence of males

New research from the University of East Anglia shows that an evolutionary force known as 'sexual selection' can explain the persistence of sex as a dominant mechanism for reproducing offspring.

View Article


Agriculture, declining mobility drove humans' shift to lighter bones

Modern lifestyles have famously made humans heavier, but, in one particular way, noticeably lighter weight than our hunter-gatherer ancestors: in the bones. Now a new study of the bones of hundreds of...

View Article

Study finds evidence of non-adaptive evolution within cicadas

University of Montana Assistant Professor John McCutcheon has once again discovered something new about the complex and intriguing inner workings of the cicada insect.

View Article

What did the first snakes look like?

The ancestral snakes in the grass actually lived in the forest, according to the most detailed look yet at the iconic reptiles.

View Article

Birds dig deep in carving out Proteaceae evolution

Australian and South African scientists have found pollinators are driving evolutionary divergence in members of the Proteaceae family including the Leucospermum tottum.

View Article


Faster evolution not responsible for tropical biodiversity

It's been known for more than 150 years that the tropics are home to far greater numbers of animal and plant species than the planet's temperate regions. But despite decades of study, the causes of...

View Article

Study suggests genetic basis for same-sex sexual behavior offers evolutionary...

(Phys.org)—A trio of researchers with the University of St. Andrews in the U.K. has found what appears to be an evolutionary advantage for same-sex sexual behavior in fruit flies. In their paper...

View Article


Comparison of bonobo anatomy to humans offers evolutionary clues

(Phys.org)—A pair of anthropology researchers, one with the University of California, the other Modesto College has found what they believe are clues to human evolutionary development by conducting a...

View Article

Paleo study shows how elevation may affect evolution

About 34 million years ago, global temperatures took a dive, causing a sudden wave of extinctions among European mammals. In North America, however, life went on largely unscathed. A new study explains...

View Article


Quality, quantity, and freshness in the reproductive game

(Phys.org)—Many intuitions drawn from our machine world do not smoothly extended to the biological. Whereas the screws or other fasteners used in an automobile typically tend to loosen over time with...

View Article

Evolution is unpredictable and irreversible, biologists show

Evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould is famous for describing the evolution of humans and other conscious beings as a chance accident of history. If we could go back millions of years and "run the...

View Article

Vulnerability made us human: how our early ancestors turned disability into...

A new evolutionary theory explains how critically small populations of early humans survived, despite an increased chance of hereditary disabilities being passed to offspring.

View Article

Toothed whales have survived millions of years without key antiviral proteins

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have determined that toothed whales lack functional Mx genes—a surprising discovery, since all 56 other sequenced mammals in the study possess...

View Article


Biologists find mistletoe species lacks genes found in all other complex...

Indiana University scientists have discovered the first known instance of a plant or animal lacking several key genes involved in energy production in cells.

View Article


Genetic study of 'co-evolution' could provide clues to better food production

In 1964, renowned biologists Peter Raven and Paul Erhlich published a landmark study that introduced the concept of co-evolution. Using butterflies and plants as primary examples, the team determined...

View Article

Single gene controls fish brain size and intelligence

A single gene called Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) drives brain size and intelligence in fish according to a new study by researchers at UCL, Stockholm University and University of Helsinki.

View Article

People and primates share chewing adaptations

Scientists have gained insights into how primate species have evolved through space and time by studying the anatomy of their lower jaws in relation to diet.

View Article


Key link in turtle evolution discovered

An international team of researchers from the United States and Germany have discovered a key missing link in the evolutionary history of turtles. The new extinct species of reptile, Pappochelys, was...

View Article

End of the dinosaurs gave rise to the modern 'Age of Fishes,' researchers find

A pair of paleobiologists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego have determined that the world's most numerous and diverse vertebrates – ray-finned fishes – began their ecological...

View Article

Single-celled predator evolves tiny, human-like 'eye'

A single-celled marine plankton evolved a miniature version of a multi-cellular eye, possibly to help see its prey better, according to University of British Columbia (UBC) research published today in...

View Article

Researchers show how our sense of smell evolved, including in cave men

A group of scientists led by Dr Kara Hoover of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and including Professor Matthew Cobb of The University of Manchester, has studied how our sense of smell has evolved,...

View Article



Blacklegged tick populations have expanded via migration, biologists show

Lyme disease cases are on the rise, with diagnoses occurring in areas that were historically Lyme-free. Scientists attribute the spread to the fact that populations of blacklegged ticks, which carry...

View Article
Browsing latest articles
Browse All 39 View Live




Latest Images