Biologists Reveal How Marine Fish Won An Evolutionary Lottery
Most marine fish, including tuna, belong to a group called acanthomorphs, which experienced an explosion of diversity after an asteroid crash 66 million years ago….
Evolutionary Biology
Researchers Discover Switchblade-Like Defensive System in Stonefish
In dark alleys of the Pacific and Indian oceans, new research shows some of the deadliest, armored fishes on the planet are packing switchblades in…
Why Expressive Eyebrows Mattered in Human Evolution
New research from the University of York suggests that highly mobile eyebrows, which can be used to express a wide range of subtle emotions, may…
Scientists Identify Key Ingredients When First Organisms Appeared on Earth
Large concentrations of sulfites and bisulfites in shallow lakes may have set the stage for Earth’s first biological molecules. Around 4 billion years ago, Earth…
Whale Genome Reveals Extraordinary Evolutionary History
For the first time, scientists of the German Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, Goethe University and the University of Lund in Sweden have deciphered…
New Harvard Exhibit Shows the Beauty of the Microscopic Universe Around Us
The expressions “Wash your hands” and “Home, sweet home” have more in common than you’d think. A whole universe more. The value of using soap…
Four-Eyed Lizard Provides a New Wrinkle in Eyesight Evolution
Researchers have found an ancient monitor lizard with a fourth eye — a discovery that may signal a new wrinkle in the way eyesight evolved…
New Discovery Suggests All Life May Share This Common Design Principle
By studying bacteria and yeast, researchers at MIT have discovered that vastly different types of cells still share fundamental similarities, conserved across species and refined…
Researchers Reveal Human Threats to the Amphibian Tree of Life
A new study by researchers at Yale and George Washington University examines the human threats to the amphibian family tree and calls for a rethinking…
New Dating Techniques Show Germany Was Covered by Glaciers 450,000 Years Ago
Using state-of-the-art dating techniques researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have obtained new chronological data for the timing of…
New Evidence of Early Human Innovation Pushes Back Evolutionary Timeline
An international collaboration, including the Natural History Museum of Utah at the University of Utah, has discovered that early humans in eastern Africa had—by about…
New Species of Fish Filled the Ocean 66 Million Years Ago
As dinosaurs and huge ocean predators disappeared 66 million years ago in a mass extinction event, lineages that comprise the bulk of marine fish species…
Scientists Reveal the Genetic Timeline of Ancient Vanuatu People
Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have helped put together the most comprehensive study ever conducted into the origins of people in Vanuatu –…
Study Shows 300,000-Year-Old South African Hominin Ate a Lot of Dust
Homo naledi’s relatively taller and more wear resistant molars enabled it to have a much more abrasive diet than other South African hominins. This is…
Newly Discovered Prehistoric Bird Fossil Sheds Light on Avian Evolution
The tiny fossil of a prehistoric baby bird is helping scientists understand how early avians came into the world in the Age of Dinosaurs. The…
Biologists Give New Life to Museum Plant Collections
Using a hitchhiking weed, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen reveal for the first time the mutation rate of a…
New Comprehensive Map of How Butterflies Are Related to Each Other
For hundreds of years, butterfly collecting has often inspired a special kind of fanaticism, spurring lengthy expeditions, sparking rivalries and prompting some collectors to risk…
Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Evolution Yields New Insights
The evolution of human biology should be considered part and parcel with the evolution of humanity itself, proposes Nicole Creanza, assistant professor of biological sciences….