Extinctions Due to Habitat Loss are Proportional to the Area Destroyed
While studying extinction threat due to habitat loss, scientists found that the relationship between geographic area and richness of species primarily depends on the mean…
Evolutionary Biology News
Pre-Existing Mutations Can Lead to Drug Resistance in HIV
A newly published study examined data from 26 clinical trials to better understand how drug-resistant HIV mutations form and to help find more effective treatments….
Bonobo Genome Completed, Differs from Humans by 1.3 Percent
Biologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have completed the sequencing and analysis of the genome of the bonobo, finding that the bonobo…
Female Butterflies Prefer Flashier Mates
A new study from evolutionary biologists at Yale University examined the butterfly species Bicyclus anynana and their mating patterns, finding that female butterflies of the…
Horizontal Gene Transfer Between Plants is More Widespread than Previously Thought
While studying the parasitic “corpse flower” of Southeast Asia, researchers from Harvard and Stony Brook University found that horizontal gene transfer between plants is much…
Theoretical Model on the Evolution of Cooperation
Using computer simulations and mathematical models, scientists developed a new theoretical model on the evolution of cooperation, finding that direct reciprocity alone is not enough,…
Educational Touch-Screen Games Prove Effective
Many people enjoy touch-screen devices because of their simplicity and speed, but a team of researchers found that using them to play games developed for…
Evidence Shows that Birds are Essentially Living Dinosaurs
By analyzing fossil evidence from skeletons, eggs, and soft tissue of birdlike dinosaurs and primitive birds, a newly published study from Harvard scientists shows that…
Evolution Shapes Ecology of Dammed Connecticut Lakes
In a newly published study, Yale biologists describe how dams built 300 years ago in Colonial times fundamentally changed the structure of the alewife, the…
Leaf Vein Architecture Allows Predictions of Past Climate
A newly published report describes the mathematical linkages between leaf vein systems and leaf size from around the globe, improving scientists’ ability to predict and…
Study Finds “Rare” Genetic Variants Aren’t So Rare
While studying base pairs of human genomes from over 14,000 people, researchers discovered a dramatically higher rate than they expected of rare genetic variants, finding…
Evolutionary Changes Surrounding the NOS1 Gene
A new study from neurobiologists at Yale University examines the evolutionary changes surrounding the NOS1 gene and suggests that the same evolutionary mechanisms that may…
“Map of Life” to Illustrate All Living Things Geographically
Now open to the public, a demonstration version of the “Map of Life” is set to illustrate how all living things on the planet are…
Pentaradially Symmetrical Brittle Stars Move Bilaterally, Like People
By defining a “front” for directional control, pentaradially symmetrical brittle stars are using locomotion in a manner that is usually accomplished by bilaterally symmetrical animals….
Human Evolution Still Tied to Darwinian Selection
As it turns out, even with all our medical technology and health education, we can’t outrun the findings of Charles Darwin. A study conducted by…
Examining the Genes of Stone Age Farmers
New findings from a team of Swedish-Danish evolutionary biologists show that the genetic variation of today’s Europeans was strongly affected by immigrant Stone Age farmers….
Stickleback Fish Used Pre-Existing Genes to Go from Saltwater to Freshwater Environments
New research pinpoints to certain mutations that may have helped the stickleback, a tiny armored fish, to evolve quickly between saltwater and freshwater forms. Since…
Rare Example of Bacterial Gene Transfer Providing Evolutionary Benefit
A bacterial gene that has been discovered in the genome of the coffee berry borer beetle (Hypothenemus hampei) allows it to occupy a unique ecological…
