Urban fish evolve to part from country cousins
Human activity can be a driver of evolutionary adaptation.
Urbanisation is driving rapid evolutionary responses in some wild species of fish, researchers have found. In a pape...
Evolution
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How insects spring to attention
Trade-offs when animals use spring-like structures revealed.
What do archers have in common with fleas? A new study now has identified the common engineering principles that enab...
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A brief history of panspermia
The ancient history of a surprisingly resilient idea.
A recent journal paper argues that life did not originate on our planet, but arrived within comets and meteorites fal...
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Teeth development may hold evolution clues
It could help trace evolutionary relationships.
Examining the fossil record through the lens of evolutionary developmental biology may help scientists reassess the t...
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No human DNA found in Neanderthal genome
They swapped genes, but none of the human ones retained.
Gene flow between Neanderthals and early modern humans may have been a one-way street, researchers have found. While...
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Magic mushrooms kill the appetite
Gene transfer may be behind the hallucinogenic compound.
New research on the evolutionary genetics of fungi reveals that the compound that makes some mushrooms ‘magic’ may ha...
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Raven species reverse Darwin’s tree
DNA analysis finds two lineages have merged, not converged.
A new study of the genetic make-up of ravens has revealed a startling and little-known side to evolution – “reverse s...
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Birds offer clues to dino running
Chickens provide insight into how T. rex moved.
Do the bird: Queensland scientists studied how birds run in order to gain insights in dinosaur locomotion. Queensland...
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Ancient lizards legged it
South Korean discovery suggests lizards ran on two legs.
Among the many things that we think make human beings special is our upright stance and two-legged gait, known as “bi...
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A pope didn’t domesticate bunnies
Split between wild and tame occurred years earlier.
In the Christian religion, the period known as Lent lasts for 40 days, winding up just before Easter, and involves ma...
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Cockroaches diversified earlier than thought
Changes were underway before supercontinent split.
Around the globe there are nine recognised families of cockroaches – and new research has found that they last shared...
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Woolly Mammoth: What is de-extinction?
How is it possible, and is it a good idea?
In February of this year, scientists from Harvard University in the US announced their plans to create a live woolly ...