Smelling in Stereo: The Real Reason Snakes Have Flicking, Forked Tongues
As dinosaurs lumbered through the humid cycad forests of ancient South America 180 million years ago, primeval lizards scurried, unnoticed, beneath their feet. Perhaps to…
Evolution
Sperm Evolution Becomes Supercharged Only When They Swim Inside Females
Sperm size varies dramatically among different animal species. But why is sperm size so variable when they share the same job — to fertilize eggs?…
Smaller Bodies, Longer Wings, Earlier Migrations: Untangling the Multiple Impacts of Climate Warming on Birds
When a University of Michigan-led research team reported last year that North American migratory birds have been getting smaller over the past four decades and…
Complementary Cognition: The Evolution of Collective Intelligence
The period preceding the emergence of behaviorally modern humans was characterized by dramatic climatic and environmental variability – it is these pressures, occurring over hundreds…
Unearthing Neanderthal Population History Using Ancient Nuclear DNA From Cave Sediments
Mitochondrial DNA of archaic humans has been retrieved from cave sediments, but it has limited value for studying population relationships. Now, researchers present a method…
Scientists Discover a New Genetic Mutation That Distinguishes Modern Humans From Neanderthals
Skoltech scientists and their colleagues from Germany and the United States have analyzed the metabolomes of humans, chimpanzees, and macaques in muscle, kidney, and three…
New Species of Giant Rhino – the Largest Land Mammal That Ever Lived – Offers Clues to a Long-Running Mystery
The giant rhino, Paraceratherium, is considered the largest land mammal that ever lived and was mainly found in Asia, especially China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. How…
Scientists See the Invisible: How Butterflies Make Transparent Wings
Many animals have evolved camouflage tactics for self-defense, but some butterflies and moths have taken it even further: They’ve developed transparent wings, making them almost…
Coelacanths – Enormous Fish That Live Deep in the Ocean – May Live Nearly a Century
Coelacanths may live five times longer than researchers expected. Once thought to be extinct, lobe-finned coelacanths are enormous fish that live deep in the ocean….
The Case of the Pyrenean Ibex: What Can We Learn From Vanishing Wildlife Species
Likely the first extinction event of the 2000s in Europe, the sad history of the Pyrenean Ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) is a powerful example of…
New Species of Humongous Prehistoric Crocodile “River Boss” Discovered in Australia
A new species of large prehistoric croc that roamed south-east Queensland’s waterways millions of years ago has been documented by University of Queensland researchers. PhD…
New Fossil Research Reveals Woodlice Cousins Roamed Ireland 360 Million Years Ago
New techniques used to recreate the image of the Oxyuropoda — the cousin of the garden woodlice. The old cousins of the common woodlice were…
Solving a Mass Extinction Survivor Mystery With Help From Snails Carrying the World’s Smallest Computer
Study yields new insights into the survival of a native snail important to Tahitian culture and ecology and to biologists studying evolution. More than 50…
Reef-Building Corals and the Microscopic Algae Within Their Cells Genetically Evolve in Tandem
Genetics of coral-algal partnerships may have conservation implications. The microscopic algae that live inside and provide nutrients to their reef-building coral hosts may be evolving…
New Species of Bizarre, Extinct Lizard – So Strange It Was Misidentified as a Hummingbird-Sized Dinosaur
An international research team has described a new species of Oculudentavis, providing further evidence that the animal first identified as a hummingbird-sized dinosaur was actually…
Missing Link Identified: Mystery of Photosynthetic Algae Evolution Finally Solved
Scientists have identified the protein that was the missing evolutionary link between two ancient algae species – red algae and cryptophytes. An evolutionary mystery that…
Two New Species of Ancient, Burrowing Mammal Ancestors Discovered in China
120-million-year-old animals evolved ‘scratch digging’ traits independently. A joint research team led by Dr. Fangyuan Mao and Dr. Chi Zhang from the Institute of Vertebrate…
How Did 500 Species of a Fish Evolve in a Lake? Dramatically Different Body Clocks
Scientists discover first nocturnal cichlid species from Africa’s lake Malawi that offers clues into the evolution of sleep. Animals are remarkably diverse in their sleep…