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Equipping artificial intelligence with the lens of evolution
Artificial intelligence is now better than humans at identifying many patterns, but evolutionary relationships have always been difficult for the technology to decipher. A team from the Bioinformatics Department at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, working under Professor Axel Mosig has trained a neural network to tackle this issue.
Micronutrient shortages shaped human DNA worldwide, study shows
Micronutrients, minerals that are part of the human diet in small amounts, may have influenced human evolution more than previously recognized. In a new study published Sept. 10 in the journal The American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers show how human ancestors from around the world developed various genetic adaptations in response to shortages and surpluses of minerals including iron, calcium, and zinc.
Iridescence is more widespread in mammals than originally thought, researchers discover
When it comes to color, mammals are hardly the most vibrant creatures of the animal kingdom. Their fur often comes in drab shades of brown, gray or black, unlike some birds, insects or fish that can dazzle with brilliant, iridescent displays. However, a new study is challenging this notion, finding that brilliant colors in mammals are more common than previously thought.
Digging into the origin of lizards: Ancient fossil shows only one of three predicted ancestral traits
A new fossil from Devon reveals what the oldest members of the lizard group looked like, and there are some surprises, according to a research team from the University of Bristol. The study is published today in Nature.
From risk factor to survival advantage: How tuberculosis has shaped meerkat evolution
Meerkats genetically adapt to a species-specific form of tuberculosis according to a long-term study by an international research team led by Ulm University. The scientists also found that climate change in the Kalahari Desert exerts additional selection pressure on the animals. The combination of infection pressure and climate change is putting meerkats under increasing evolutionary stress. The study's results have been published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Biomineralization: How sponges form their calcite spicules
Many corals and sponges form skeletons that support and shape their bodies. Whereas biomineralization—the formation of these skeletons—has been intensively studied in corals, the main ecosystem engineers of today's hyperdiverse coral reefs, the molecular mechanisms of the process had not been fully clarified in the also ecologically important marine sponges.
How evolution explains autism rates in humans
A paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution finds that the relatively high rate of autism-spectrum disorders in humans is likely due to how humans evolved in the past. The paper is titled "A general principle of neuronal evolution reveals a human accelerated neuron type potentially underlying the high prevalence of autism in humans."
Extending the existing theory on host–microbiome evolution
The microbiome comprises a multitude of bacteria, viruses and fungi that exist in and on a multicellular organism. The interactions of body cells and the microbiome form a structural and often functional unit, the so-called metaorganism. These interactions significantly influence the biology of both the host and the associated microbes.
Cooperation and competition: How fetal and maternal cells evolved to work together
The maternal–fetal interface is the meeting point for maternal and fetal cells during pregnancy. It's long been understood as an area of conflict, where the placenta—a fetal organ—invades the mother to access nutrients.
Researchers quantify rate of essential evolutionary process in the ocean
The movement of genetic material between organisms that aren't directly related is a significant driver of evolution, especially among single-celled organisms like bacteria and archaea. A team led by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have now estimated that an average cell line acquires and retains roughly 13% of its genes every million years via this process of lateral gene transfer. That equates to about 250 genes swapped per liter of seawater every day.
Jurassic insects with leaf-like wings found alongside their plant models in China
A research team led by Prof. Huang Diying from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has identified three species of Jurassic orthopterans—an insect group that includes grasshoppers, crickets and katydids—with forewing patterns nearly identical to the leaves of bennettitales, an extinct, cycad-like seed plant.
Hybridization boosts survival of Europe's most threatened seabird
When individuals from two different species interbreed, hybrid organisms may emerge that display characteristics from both genetic lineages. While hybridization is a common natural phenomenon, it is often seen as a challenge in biodiversity conservation.
Dogs, pigs and humans share ancient brain mechanisms for recognizing vocal sounds
The ability to detect vocal sounds, and the more specialized skill of recognizing calls from one's own species, is supported by evolutionarily ancient brain mechanisms, according to a new study from the ELTE Department of Ethology, Hungary.
Most rodents have thumbnails instead of claws: It might help explain how they took over the world
Picture a squirrel eating an acorn. It's holding the nut in its front paws. More specifically, squirrels handle their food with their thumbs. And instead of the thin, curved claws on the rest of the squirrel's fingers, their thumbs have smooth, flat nails.
Researchers uncover key insights into MADS-box gene evolution in green plants
MADS-box genes, critical regulatory elements in eukaryotes, have undergone extensive diversification in green plants. Although MADS-box genes have been extensively studied, the understanding of their origin and evolution, particularly the relationships between different gene types and their functional diversification, remains incomplete.
Iberian harvester ant queens are cloning different species to produce hybrid workers
Worker ants perform important tasks like gathering food, taking care of eggs and larvae and nest building. However, some species of ants cannot produce workers through reproductive means with their own species. Eggs fertilized by male ants of the same species result only in more queens, while unfertilized eggs result in winged males—those which leave the nest to mate with queens. So, where do the workers come from in these ant species?
'Ghost sharks' grow forehead teeth to help them have sex, study suggests
Male "ghost sharks"—eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays—have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retractable teeth. New research appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals these are not merely lookalikes, but real rows of teeth that grow outside the mouth.
Starfish break the rules of animal distribution
Animals and plants around the world are not randomly distributed. They appear to follow trends and patterns. But it's often difficult to figure out if the patterns we see in the natural world actually hold true. To prove it, we need to study vast amounts of data that span huge geographical distances. For most groups of animals and plants, this data simply doesn't exist and that makes it hard to say too much about where they live.
Fruit fly research shows that mechanical forces drive evolutionary change
A tissue fold known as the cephalic furrow, an evolutionary novelty that forms between the head and the trunk of fly embryos, plays a mechanical role in stabilizing embryonic tissues during the development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Mutations driving evolution are informed by the genome, not random, study suggests
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists from Israel and Ghana shows that an evolutionarily significant mutation in the human APOL1 gene arises not randomly but more frequently where it is needed to prevent disease, fundamentally challenging the notion that evolution is driven by random mutations and tying the results to a new theory that, for the first time, offers a new concept for how mutations arise.
8,000 years of human activities have caused wild animals to shrink and domestic animals to grow
Humans have caused wild animals to shrink and domestic animals to grow, according to a new study out of the University of Montpellier in southern France. Researchers studied tens of thousands of animal bones from Mediterranean France covering the last 8,000 years to see how the size of both types of animals has changed over time.
Bite by bite: How jaws drove fish evolution
If you're reading this sentence, you might have a fish to thank. Fish were the first animals to evolve jaws. They use their jaws primarily to eat, but also for defense, as tools—such as to burrow or to crack open hard food—and even as a form of parental care: some fish carry eggs or their young in their mouths. Jaws are a trait that scientists think fueled evolution among vertebrates, including us.
The sticky battle between microscopic worms and predatory fungi comes with a genetic trade-off
Researchers from Academia Sinica, Taiwan and the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Germany, have revealed how the nematode gene nhr-66 controls the production of cuticular collagens that enable predatory fungi to adhere and capture their nematode prey.
Supernova theory links an exploding star to global cooling and human evolution
What's the link between an exploding star, climate change and human evolution? Francis Thackeray, who has researched ancient environments and fossils for many years, sets out his ideas about what happened in the distant past—with enormous consequences.
Daytime moths reveal larger hearing organs, challenging evolutionary assumptions
An international research team set out to test whether diurnal moths—less threatened by echolocating bats—would have reduced tympanal organs. These specialized hearing organs allow moths to detect the high frequency calls bats use to locate prey at night. The researchers compared day-flying moths to their closely related, night-flying counterparts, expecting reduction or loss of these hearing organs in the diurnal species. Surprisingly, the opposite was true.
An ancient signpost: Minute fossils tell big story about arthropod evolution
A tiny fossil of a sea creature that lived more than half a billion years ago sheds new light on the evolution of arthropods, the most species-rich and successful group of animals to inhabit Earth, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
Tiny ocean partnership between algae and bacteria reveals secrets of evolution
The microscopic alliance between algae and bacteria offers rare, step-by-step snapshots of how bacteria lose genes and adapt to increasing host dependence. This is shown by a new study led by researchers from Stockholm University, in collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnaeus University, published in Current Biology.
Mammoth DNA from Mexico reveals a divergent lineage
Long before the construction of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which lies northeast of Mexico City, the area was home to the former Lake Xaltocan and inhabited by a rich ecosystem of prehistoric animals. Eons later, in 2019, the somewhat controversial construction of the airport began, which led to the unearthing of at least 110 individual mammoths, as well as many other animal fossils.
Diversity of lemurs in Madagascar due to repeated evolutionary bursts, not one-off radiation, study finds
Lemurs are among the best-known representatives of Madagascar's animal kingdom. They make up more than 15% of all primate species living today—even though the island covers less than 1% of Earth's land surface.
Genomic analysis shows how cavefish lost their eyes
Small, colorless, and blind, amblyopsid cavefishes inhabit subterranean waters throughout the eastern United States. In a new study, Yale researchers reveal insights into just how these distinctive cave dwellers evolved—and provide a unique method for dating the underground ecosystems where they reside.