Sturgeon “Methuselah Fish” Genome Sequenced – Important Piece of Evolutionary Puzzle
Sturgeons lived on earth already 300 million years ago and yet their external appearance seems to have undergone very little change. A team of researchers…
Evolution News
New Species of Feathered Carnivorous Dinosaur Discovered in New Mexico Yields Evolutionary Insights
The discovery of a new species of dromaeosaurid — a family of generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that lived during the Cretaceous Period —…
New Dinosaur Discovered in New Mexico Is One of the Last Known Surviving Raptors
A new feathered dinosaur that lived in New Mexico 67 million years ago is one of the last known surviving raptor species, according to a…
De-Domesticated Weedy Rice Is Unintended Legacy of Green Revolution
A new global study reveals the extent to which high-yielding rice varieties favored in the decades since the “Green Revolution” have a propensity to go…
Birds Can Thrive in Urban Environments With Either Big Brains or Frequent Breeding
Researchers have found that birds can thrive in cities either by having larger brains or by breeding more often. A new study in Frontiers in…
Skulls Gone Wild: Secrets of How and Why Frogs Evolved Extreme Heads
Many frogs look like water balloons with legs, but don’t be fooled. Beneath slick skin, some species sport spines, spikes, and other skeletal secrets. While…
Ancestor of All Animals – Including Humans – Identified in Australian Fossils
A wormlike creature that lived more than 555 million years ago is the earliest bilaterian. A team led by UC Riverside geologists has discovered the…
Map of Life Will Need to Be Redrawn and Textbooks Updated After Highly Surprising Discovery on Christmas Island
The world’s animal distribution map will need to be redrawn and textbooks updated, after researchers discovered the existence of ‘Australian’ species on Christmas Island. The…
Evolutionary Origin of the Human Hand Revealed by Ancient Fish Fossil
An ancient fossil found in Canada reveals new insights into how the human hand evolved from fish fins. An ancient Elpistostege fish fossil found in…
“Wonderchicken” – Origin of Modern Birds Revealed by Fossil From the Age of Dinosaurs
The oldest fossil of a modern bird yet found, dating from the age of dinosaurs, has been identified by an international team of paleontologists. The…
How Do Vampire Bat Strangers Make Friends? Scientists Find Out
It starts with a gradual buildup of trust, study finds. We humans can explain how our relationships with college roommates and co-workers have formed over…
No Evidence COVID-19 Coronavirus Was Genetically Engineered in a Lab – Epidemic Has a Natural Origin
Scripps Research’s analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or…
Ancient Sea-Worm Mystery Solved by Student After 50 Years in “Wastebasket”
When a partial fossil specimen of a primordial marine worm was unearthed in Utah in 1969, scientists had a tough go identifying it. Usually, such…
Cambridge Researcher Finally Proves One of Darwin’s Evolution Theories
Scientists have proved one of Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution for the first time — nearly 140 years after his death. Laura van Holstein, a…
Rutgers Scientists Have Discovered the Origins of the Building Blocks of Life
Rutgers researchers retraced the evolution of enzymes over billions of years. Rutgers researchers have discovered the origins of the protein structures responsible for metabolism: simple…
3.8 Billion-Year-Old Rocks Show That Water and Other Elements Necessary for Life Were Delivered to Earth Very Late in Its History
Arrival delayed! Water, carbon, and nitrogen were not immediately supplied to Earth. Spearheaded by earth scientists of the University of Cologne, an international team of…
Study Finds Western Gorillas Are Territorial and Their Behavior Is Very Similar to Our Own
New research provides important clues for the evolution of human behavior. Scientists have discovered that gorillas really are territorial — and their behavior is very…
Evolution Can Go in Reverse – Research on Soldier Ants Reveals Surprising Flexibility
Turtle ant soldiers look like real-life creatures straight out of a Japanese anime film. These tree-dwelling insects scuttle to and fro sporting shiny, adorably oversized…