So-Called Junk DNA – Genetic “Dark Matter” – Is Actually Critical to Survival in Mammals
Knocking out transposon promoter leads to pup death in mice; similar promoters found in many mammals. Nearly half of our DNA has been written off…
Evolution
Scientists Solve an Evolutionary Curiosity: Why a Human Egg Is 10 Million Times the Volume of a Sperm Cell
Egg and sperm cell size evolved from competition. Limited resources drove gametes to differ vastly in size and number. In most living animals, egg cells…
Primates’ Ancestors May Have Left Trees To Survive Asteroid That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs
When an asteroid struck 66 million years ago and wiped out dinosaurs not related to birds and three-quarters of life on Earth, early ancestors of…
Snakes Diversified Explosively After Mass Extinction Where Dinosaurs Were Wiped Out
Modern snakes evolved from ancestors that lived side by side with the dinosaurs and that likely fed mainly on insects and lizards. Then a miles-wide…
Unraveling the Mystery of Touch: Why Certain Body Parts Are So Sensitive
Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that may explain why certain body parts are so sensitive. Some parts of the body—our hands and lips, for example—are…
Primordial “Hyper-Eye” Discovered: Astonishing 390 Million-Year-Old Hyper-Compound Eye With 200 Lenses
Trilobites of the suborder Phacopina had a unique eye in which about 200 large lenses in each eye spanned at least six individual facets, each…
New Species of Tardigrade (Water Bear) Discovered in 16 Million-Year-Old Dominican Amber
Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are a diverse group of charismatic microscopic invertebrates that are best known for their ability to survive extreme conditions….
MIT Scientists Zero In on the Origins of Earth’s “Single Most Important Evolutionary Innovation”
A new study shows oxygenic photosynthesis likely evolved between 3.4 and 2.9 billion years ago. Some time in Earth’s early history, the planet took a…
In a Gene Tied to Growth, Scientists See Glimmers of Human History
A paper in Science Advances focuses on the evolution of the human growth hormone receptor gene. A new study delves into the evolution and function…
Bizarre New Species of Dinosaur Had Armor Unlike Anything Seen Before
An unusual fossil showing a series of spikes fused to a rib has been revealed to be the remains of the oldest ankylosaur ever found and…
Looming Extinction Crisis: If Endangered Primates Disappear, So Will Their Parasites. That’s Actually a Problem
The extinction crisis looming for monkeys, apes and their kin could have even greater ripple effects on the tiny underappreciated species that set up camp…
So-Called “Junk” DNA Is Essential, Plays a Key Role in Speciation
More than 10 percent of our genome is made up of repetitive, seemingly nonsensical stretches of genetic material called satellite DNA that do not code for…
Archaeological Evidence Shows Early Homo sapiens in Europe Faced Subarctic Climates
New insights into the climatic backdrop for an early wave of dispersal of our species into Europe during the last glacial period. The process how…
Solved: Charles Darwin’s Mysterious Short-Beak Enigma
Mutation in the ROR2 gene is linked to beak length in domestic pigeons, has a surprising connection with a human congenital disorder. Charles Darwin was…
Plants Didn’t Evolve Gradually – They Evolved Complexity in Two Dramatic Bursts 250-Million-Years Apart
A Stanford-led study reveals that rather than evolving gradually over hundreds of millions of years, land plants underwent major diversification in two dramatic bursts, 250 million…
Early Humans Used Bone Tools To Produce Clothing in Morocco 120,000 Years Ago
A new study led by Arizona State University paleoanthropologist Curtis Marean and ASU doctoral graduate Emily Hallett details more than 60 tools made of bone…
An Ancient Lineage: Indian Wolf Among World’s Most Endangered and Distinct Wolves
Scientists Sequence Indian Wolf Genome for 1st Time The Indian wolf could be far more endangered than previously recognized, say first scientists to sequence its…
Evolution Now Accepted by Majority of Americans
The level of public acceptance of evolution in the United States is now solidly above the halfway mark, according to a new study based on…