Evolution
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Spawn of the triffid?
Organisms shed insight into a complex evolutionary world.
This is Rhodelphis limneticus, one of two newly discovered organisms that Canadian and Russian researchers say point ...
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Ancient DNA sheds light on early cattle
Genomic analysis reveals a complex history.
Cows are seemingly simple creatures. Their history is anything but. An analysis of ancient genomes from domestic cat...
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Sponge blob square pants
Study overturns understanding of evolutionary history.
This is a cross-section of a type of cell found in sponges known as a choanocyte. It is not what it seems. Until now...
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Evolution: the product of random mutation
The paths available to evolving organisms are far from limitless.
biletskiy/Shutterstock What would happen if the hands of time were turned back to an arbitrary point in our evolutio...
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Eurasian migration steppe by steppe
Genomes show interactions were moderated by geography.
Geographical features represent a strong barrier to human gene flow across inner Eurasia, genetic research has reveal...
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We have evolved to communicate
There’s a reason we look so different to our near relatives.
The need to develop social skills helped shape the modern human face, scientists have suggested. Writing in the jour...
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In primates, evolution is a ball game
Looking handsome comes at a very personal cost.
Evolution is fundamentally an exercise in trade-offs – speed versus bulk, running versus tree-climbing, that sort of ...
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Mass extinction and “morphospace”
The slow return to diversity is fuelled by tensions.
Theory tells us that after a mass extinction, an event where the diversity of species is drastically reduced, nature ...
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Lizard produces eggs and live young
Vertebrate observed spreading its reproductive options.
Versatility, it is generally acknowledged, is a useful evolutionary trait, but an Australian lizard, the three-toed s...
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Water beetles mate to an evolutionary standstill
Adaptations to male harassment result in speciation barrier.
A species of diving beetle is having mating problems, and that’s of interest to more than just diving beetles. Grapo...
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Amoebas diversified earlier than thought
Study challenges standard view on ancient diversity.
Amoebas diversified at least 750 million years ago, far earlier than previously thought, researchers have revealed. ...
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A year in the life of a giant sloth
A fossillised tooth reveals the secrets of a single animal.
A massive fossilised tooth from central America has opened a window into life for a giant ground sloth that lived 27,...