A newly published study suggests that Europeans are closely related, finding on a genealogical level that everyone in Europe traces back to nearly the same set of ancestors only a thousand years ago. From Ireland to the Balkans, Europeans are basically one big family, closely related to one another for the past thousand years, according [...]

A new study led by scientists at the University of Leeds shows that short-term ecological change and evolution are intertwined and cannot reasonably be considered separate, finding that populations evolve rapidly in response to environmental change and population management. Environmental change can drive hard-wired evolutionary changes in animal species in a matter of generations. A [...]

2012 saw the greatest Arctic ice minimum ever recorded, allowing researchers to document the effects of ice retreat and biodiversity in the Arctic deep sea. The Arctic is one of the habitats undergoing the most radical transformation as a result of climate change. Nobody can predict the effects it will have on biodiversity in the [...]

A newly published study pokes holes in widely accepted theory that connects biodiversity abundance with a reduced disease risk for humans, finding that the links between biodiversity and disease prevalence are variable and dependent on the disease system, local ecology and probably human social context. More than three quarters of new, emerging or re-emerging human [...]

For the first time, researchers at the Max Planck Institute provide experimental proof that the extremely sensitive olfactory system of fruit flies is based on self-regulation of odorant receptors. Highly developed antennae containing different types of olfactory receptors allow insects to use minute amounts of odors for orientation towards resources like food, oviposition sites or [...]

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute have shown how sunken wood can develop into attractive habitats for a variety of microorganisms and invertebrates due to the activity of bacteria, which produce hydrogen sulfide during wood degradation. Trees do not grow in the deep sea, nevertheless sunken pieces of wood can develop into oases for deep-sea [...]

Genetic diversity and long periods of time are things that are crucial for evolutionary adaptation. This made scientists wonder why invasive species, lacking genetic diversity, succeed quickly. And some ecologists are beginning to think that epigenetic factors might be modifying genes while leaving the genome intact. The scientists presented their findings at a meeting of [...]

Scientists have discovered a pattern of gene activity, which allows some corals to survive in higher temperatures. This suggests a way to predict how different corals will react to warmer waters, which are expected to result from climate change over the coming decades. The scientists published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National [...]

Elephants need to consume a minimum of 100 liters of water and 100 kilograms of vegetation daily, yet a small population of 350 manages to survive in the harsh Gourma region of Mali, south of the Niger River, where temperatures spike to 50˚C and vegetation is sparse. The scientists published their findings in the journal [...]

A new cash settlement will be given to the Gulf of Mexico science and restoration project, due to the federal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The company that operated the drilling rig for BP, Transocean Deepwater, has agreed to pay $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties for the [...]

Scientists indicate that birds listening to birdsong may be experiencing an emotional response akin to when humans listen to music. The study tracked the neural activity in sparrows. The neuroscientists from Emory University published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience¹. The scientists compared the effects of music on the human brain with [...]

Scientists think that a study, which has been a cornerstone in evolutionary biology for the last five decades, could be wrong. Ecologist and evolutionary biologist Patricia Gowaty and her colleagues Yong-Kyu Kim and Wyatt Anderson published their findings in the journal PNAS¹. The original study was done in 1948 by geneticist A. J. Bateman, who [...]