News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Life
Culture & Art
Hobbies
News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Culture & Art
Hobbies
How environmental plasticity sparks the rise of new species across the animal kingdom
Researchers have shed new light on how the environment promotes the generation of new species. A study led by Dr. Benjamin Jarrett from Bangor University looked at what happens when two populations of the same species are evolving in different environments. It asks if they are more or less likely to interbreed than populations evolving in the same environment.
Comb jellies reveal ancient origins of animal genome regulation
Life depends on genes being switched on and off at exactly the right time. Even the simplest living organisms do this, but usually over short distances across the DNA sequence, with the on/off switch typically right next to a gene. This basic form of genomic regulation is probably as old as life on Earth.
Bat virus evolution suggests wildlife trade sparked COVID-19 virus emergence in humans
The ancestor of the virus that causes COVID-19 left its point of origin in Western China or Northern Laos just several years before the disease first emerged in humans up to 2,700 kilometers away in Central China, according to a new study by University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues.
Triassic fossil reveals nature's best jaw for hunting fast fish
The best jaw for hunting fast fish is long and full of sharp teeth. This makes sense to us, but it also makes sense in nature: New fossil evidence from Virginia Tech geoscientists revealed that different species of predatory fish independently evolved similar jaw structures hundreds of millions of years apart.
Antibiotic resistance dates back millions of years, with important lessons for modern medicine
Antibiotics are widely considered one of the most important advances in the history of medicine. Their introduction into clinical practice during the 1940s marked a major milestone in the control of infectious diseases, and these medicines have since improved human health and prolonged life expectancy.
Nine-year study shows mountain plants won't adapt fast enough to climate change
A team of plant biologists, geneticists and ecologists from the University of Georgia, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, the University of California and Davidson College has found via a nine-year study of Drummond's rockcress plants that many mountain plants will not be able to adapt to rising temperatures quickly enough to survive in the face of global warming.
Computational tool reveals how dormancy shapes evolution in TB and other organisms
Tuberculosis is the world's deadliest infectious disease, due in part to its ability to hide out for years in the lungs before starting an infection. Now, a new computational method developed by researchers at Cornell sheds light on how going dormant—sometimes for multiple generations—has affected the evolution of the tuberculosis bacterium (Mtb) and other organisms that can temporarily drop out of the gene pool.
A fully automated tool for species tree inference
A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego is making it easier for researchers from a broad range of backgrounds to understand how different species are evolutionarily related, and support the transformative biological and medical applications that rely on these species trees. The researchers developed a scalable, automated and user-friendly tool called ROADIES that allows scientists to infer species trees directly from raw genome data, with less reliance on the domain expertise and computational resources currently required.
Genomic survey uncovers evolutionary origins of secretoglobins
At a conference in Washington, D.C., in 2000, the secretoglobin super family of proteins was named to classify proteins with structural similarities to its founding member uteroglobin. Now, 25 years later, there is still little known about the basic functions of these proteins, prompting researchers at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology to dive into their evolutionary origins.
Evolutionary rescue: Microbes under environmental stress may sacrifice cooperation for self-sufficiency
Microorganisms—defined as very small living beings, invisible to the naked eye, comprising bacteria, fungi, viruses or others—naturally compete and cooperate in nature for survival. What does the "environmental stress" to which they are subjected due to global changes, such as global warming, sea level rise or air pollution, affect them and to what extent?
Unusual reproductive strategies may boost survival in sharks and rays
Joel Harrison Gayford, a marine biologist at James Cook University, in Australia, who specializes in research focused on chondrichthyan evolution and ecology, has published a paper in the journal Royal Society Open Science regarding two unusual forms of reproduction in chondrichthyans and possible reasons for them.
Skin wounds in humans found to heal nearly three times slower than those in other primates
A team of evolutionary scientists, dermatologists and wildlife specialists affiliated with several institutions in Japan, Kenya and France has found that human skin wounds take nearly three times as long to heal as they do in other primates. In their study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the group conducted experiments involving skin healing speed in humans and several other primates.
Pugs and Persian cats show strikingly similar 'smushed' faces due to artificial selection
Through intensive breeding, humans have pushed breeds such as pug dogs and Persian cats to evolve with very similar skulls and "smushed" faces, so they're more similar to each other than they are to most other dogs or cats.
Some male mice fiercely guard females within their territories, while others seek out quick flings
In a comprehensive study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, researchers tracked 244 wild-derived male house mice—yes, the kind you'd find in barns or basements—over their entire lives, up to 11 months, in real-world-style enclosures.
Scythe-jawed hell ant from 113 million years ago is oldest known specimen
A 113-million-year-old hell ant that once lived in northeastern Brazil is now the oldest ant specimen known to science, finds a report published in Current Biology. The hell ant, which was preserved in limestone, is a member of Haidomyrmecinae—an extinct subfamily that only lived during the Cretaceous period. These ants had highly specialized, scythe-like jaws that they likely used to pin or impale prey.
New evidence moves early giant crocodile further from modern alligator on family tree
An international team of paleontologists, geologists, geoscientists and Earth scientists has found evidence that a type of giant crocodile that lived millions of years ago in what is now North America is not closely related to modern alligators. In their study published in the journal Communications Biology, the group took a closer look at Deinosuchus fossils and those of other species to determine whether it was saltwater-tolerant.
Beyond the double helix: Alternative DNA conformations in ape genomes
Certain DNA sequences can form structures other than the canonical double helix. These alternative DNA conformations—referred to as non-B DNA—have been implicated as regulators of cellular processes and of genome evolution, but their DNA tends to be repetitive, which until recently made reliably reading and assembling their sequences difficult.
A new map of arthropod evolution, from fossils to embryos
A new study by Prof. Ariel Chipman of The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem provides a novel model for understanding the development and evolution of arthropod body plans—specifically the arrangement of their segmented body parts known as tagmata.
Evolutionary analysis uncovers protein changes that protect mammals from aging and disease
Over recent decades, humanity has witnessed a remarkable and continuous increase in lifespan. However, this advancement has been accompanied by a growing aging population, increasingly affected by age-related diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, and diabetes. To extend not only lifespan but also healthspan, a deeper understanding of the biological mechanisms that support healthy aging is essential.
Genomic study maps nearly 60 million years of apple genus evolution and diversity
A new comparison and analysis of the genomes of species in the genus Malus, which includes the domesticated apple and its wild relatives, revealed the evolutionary relationships among the species and how their genomes have evolved over the past nearly 60 million years.
For the first time, wild chimpanzees have been pictured eating and sharing 'boozy' fruit
A research team led by the University of Exeter set up cameras in Guinea-Bissau's Cantanhez National Park. Footage of chimps sharing fermented African breadfruit—confirmed to contain ethanol (alcohol)—raises fascinating questions about if and why chimps deliberately seek out alcohol.
How changes in lemur brains made some mean girls nice
If there were a contest for the biggest female bullies in the animal world, lemurs would be near the top of the list. In these distant primate cousins, it's the ladies who call the shots, relying on physical aggression to get their way and keep males in line.
An evolutionary algorithmic phase transition 2.6 billion years ago may have sparked the emergence of eukaryotic cells
An international collaboration between four scientists from Mainz, Valencia, Madrid, and Zurich has published new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shedding light on the most significant increase in complexity in the history of life's evolution on Earth: the origin of the eukaryotic cell.
A genetic basis of adaptive evolution: Complex chromosomal rearrangements drive color changes in stick insects
Understanding the material basis of adaptive evolution has been a central goal in biology dating back to at least the time of Darwin. One focus of current debates is whether adaptive evolution relies on many mutations with small and roughly equal effects, or is it driven by one or a few mutations that cause major changes in traits.
Curious isolation: New butterfly species discovered
In the heart of Canada's Rocky Mountains, an unassuming yet remarkable butterfly has been quietly flying under our scientific radar for years. With a wingspan of an inch to an inch and a half, and wings that are brown on top and grayish brown with black spots below, this population was long thought to belong to the Half-moon Hairstreak (Satyrium semiluna). However, the isolated hairstreak butterflies of Blakiston Fan in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, have now been recognized as a distinct species: Satyrium curiosolus, or the Curiously Isolated Hairstreak.
Woodrats' immunity to snake venom changes with the weather, researchers discover
The power of a rattlesnake's venom to incapacitate its prey may depend on more than just its potency, or even the prey animal's tolerance for the poison. According to a new study published April 16 in Biology Letters, it also depends a bit on the weather.
Bonobos refuse to participate when faced with unequal rewards
The question of whether non-human animals have a sense of fairness has been widely debated. Some studies suggest that primates and other cooperative species show an aversion to inequity, while others argue that responses to unequal rewards can be explained by frustration, social disappointment, or food expectations.