Fascinating or Horrifying? Scientists Create Human-Monkey Chimeric Embryos
Investigators in China and the United States have injected human stem cells into primate embryos and were able to grow chimeric embryos for a significant…
Evolution
Paleontologists Stunning Conclusion: 2.5 Billion T. Rexes Roamed North America Over the Cretaceous Period
Analysis of what’s known about the dinosaur leads to conclusion there were 2.5 billion over time. How many Tyrannosaurus rexes roamed North America during the…
Island Gigantism and Dwarfism: Evolutionary “Island Rule” Confirmed
It is an old-standing theory in evolutionary ecology: animal species on islands have the tendency to become either giants or dwarfs in comparison to mainland…
Size Isn’t Everything: Megafauna Extinction Mystery
Ancient clues, in the shape of fossils and archaeological evidence of varying quality scattered across Australia, have formed the basis of several hypotheses about the…
“Monkeydactyl” – Strange New Jurassic Flying Reptile Reveals the Oldest Opposable Thumbs
A new 160-million-year-old arboreal pterosaur species, dubbed ‘Monkeydactyl’, has the oldest true opposed thumb — a novel structure previously not known in pterosaurs. An international…
Screams of “Joy” Are Often Mistaken for “Fear” When Heard Out of Context
The first in-depth look at the human ability to decode the range of emotions tied to the acoustic cues of screams. People are adept at…
Competing Evolutionary Forces Drive Rapid Evolution of Salamander Coloration
Two opposing evolutionary forces explain the presence of the two different colors of spotted salamander egg masses at ponds in Pennsylvania, according to a new…
Human Screams Communicate at Least Six Emotions – Surprisingly Acoustically Diverse
Human screams signal more than fear and are more acoustically diverse than previously thought, according to a study published today (April 13th, 2021) in the…
Ancient Ammonoids’ Complex Shell Designs May Have Aided Buoyancy Control
Researchers use 3-D-printed models to explore fractal-like interior shell patterns. Ammonoids, ancestors of today’s octopus, squid, and cuttlefish, bobbed and jetted their way through the…
Gray Wolves Survived Ice-Age Extinction by Adapting Their Diet
Gray wolves are among the largest predators to have survived the extinction at the end of the last ice age around 11,700 years ago. Today,…
Unusual Fossil Discovered That Reveals Last Meal of a Prehistoric Pollinator
An amber fossil of a Cretaceous beetle has shed some light on the diet of one of the earliest pollinators of flowering plants. The animal’s…
Paleontologists Discover Two Unusual New Species of Ancient, Burrowing Mammal Ancestors
120-million-year-old animals evolved “scratch-digging” traits independently. Paleontologists have discovered two new species of mammal-like, burrowing animals that lived about 120 million years ago in what…
Earliest Homo Populations in Africa Had Primitive Ape-Like Brains – Just Half the Size of Today’s Humans
The human brain as we know it today is relatively young. It evolved about 1.7 million years ago when the culture of stone tools in…
Pioneering Pollinator Research Reveals Genetic Clues to Darwin’s “Abominable Mystery”
Research into the flower preferences of pollinating moths may have delivered a vital clue to the simple factors needed for the emergence of new species….
Origin of Modern Rainforests Traced to Cataclysmic Asteroid Impact That Destroyed Nearly 75% of All Terrestrial Life on Earth
In an analysis of thousands of fossil pollen and leaves spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary, researchers found that the cataclysmic asteroid impact that resulted in…
Overfishing of Atlantic Cod Likely Did Not Cause Genetic Changes – Hope for Recovery
Study suggests reducing fishing and addressing environmental changes would help cod recover. Overfishing likely did not cause the Atlantic cod, an iconic species, to evolve…
450-Million-Year-Old Sea Creature’s Bizarre Breathing Organs Uncovered
Trilobites Had a Leg Up on Breathing A new study has found the first evidence of sophisticated breathing organs in 450-million-year-old sea creatures. Contrary to…
An Evolutionary Discovery That “Literally Changes the Textbook”
MSU’s expertise in fish biology, genetics helping researchers rewrite evolutionary history and shape future health studies. The network of nerves connecting our eyes to our…