Highly Intelligent: What Octopus and Human Brains Have in Common
Cephalopods like octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish are highly intelligent animals with complex nervous systems. A team of researchers has now shown that their evolution is…
Evolution News
“Weird Wonder” Fossil Discovery Adds Piece to Puzzle of Arthropod Evolution
Welsh “weird wonder” fossils provide new clues to the history of arthropod evolution. The most famous fossils from the Cambrian explosion of animal life, which…
Discovery of 119-Million-Year-Old “Selfish” Genes Casts Doubt on Established Evolution Beliefs
The finding could alter our understanding of how parasitic DNA affects genome evolution. Meiotic drivers, a kind of selfish gene, are indeed selfish. They are…
Biologists Uncover New Information About Earth’s First Animals
Life in the poles provides insights into the first animals on Earth. According to a recent study, the amazing survival techniques of polar marine creatures…
The Ultimate Death Stare: How Moth Wing Patterns Allow Them To Escape Death
Dr. Hannah Rowland and Dr. John Skelhorn explain how these defensive patterns on moth wings persuade birds that assaulting the insects is not worth the risk….
“Flipping the Script” – New Research Rewrites the Evolutionary Story of Gills
The study adds a new, early chapter to the evolutionary tale of gills. Most fish species depend on their gills to breathe underwater. Less widely…
Ray-Finned Fish Survived Mass Extinction Event 360 Million Years Ago
According to new research, ray-finned fish, now the most diverse group of backboned animals, were not as hard hit by a mass extinction event as…
Scientists Discover a New Way To Make Species
An evolutionary biologist’s team has found a new type of speciation. The evolution of a new species by hybridization of two previously described species with…
Forever Young: Scientists Reveal the Secret to a Strange Animal’s Eternal Youth
In sea anemones, highly conserved genes guarantee the lifelong differentiation of neurons and glandular cells. Sea anemones are seemingly immortal animals. They seem to be immune…
Strange Shell-Like Egg Case and the Secrets of Octopus Evolution
New research indicates that a type of octopus appears to have evolved independently to develop something resembling a shell, despite having lost the genetic code…
500 Million Year-Old Fossils Solve a Centuries-Old Riddle in the Evolution of Life on Earth
Scientists have finally solved a centuries-old riddle in the evolution of life on earth, revealing what the first animals to make skeletons looked like. This…
New Discovery Fills Long-Missing Gap in Evolutionary History
The oldest gibbon fossil was discovered in southwest China. The earliest gibbon fossil has been found by a team of researchers, filling a long-missing evolutionary gap…
Shocking 439-Million-Year-Old “Shark” Forces Scientists To Rethink the Timeline of Evolution
The ancient shark was found in China and is humans’ oldest jawed ancestor. The apex predators of the ocean are often shown as living sharks….
New Clues to Brain Evolution From Map of the Octopus Visual System
It’s hard for the octopus to pick just one party trick. This magnificent creature swims via jet propulsion, shoots inky chemicals at its enemies, and…
New Findings Rewrite the Evolutionary Story of “Fish to Human”
The discovery of a fossil “treasure hoard” illuminates the rise of fishes. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences‘ Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology…
Black Death Shaped Evolution, Setting the Course for How Our Immune Systems Respond to Disease Today
The Black Death shaped the evolution of immunity genes, setting the course for how we respond to disease today. An international team of scientists analyzed…
Scientists Uncover the Gene Responsible for Human’s Big Brain
Brain organoids shed light on the evolution of the human brain. Great ape animal studies have long been prohibited in Europe due to ethical concerns….
439-Million-Year-Old Fossil Teeth Overturn Long-Held Views About Evolution
Rare Chinese fossil teeth have changed scientists’ beliefs about the evolution of vertebrates. An international team of scientists has found toothed fish remains that date…
