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A conservative defense: Downstream negative feedback loops resist evolutionary blitzes
In football, defense keeps the opposing team in check. A similar strategy is at play inside our cells. Negative feedback loops (NFLs) help regulate how cells respond to signals, for example, dialing down activity when things get too intense. A new study from Vanderbilt University reveals that these molecular "defenders" evolve differently depending on where they sit in the signaling pathway.
The Saimaa ringed seal is a species of its own, study says
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that the Saimaa ringed seal is evolutionarily more differentiated than previously known. In fact, the study suggests that, instead of a subspecies, the Saimaa ringed seal should be acknowledged as a species of its own.
Rats in Australia may have genetic mutation that increases resistance to widely used poisons
A team of wildlife management specialists, environmental toxicologists and geneticists at the Conservation and Biodiversity Research Center, Edith Cowan University, in Australia, has found that some black rats living in Australian cities have developed a genetic mutation that potentially increases their resistance to the most popular poisons used to kill them.
Tiny fossils, big discoveries: Researchers reveal new clues about early ocean life
More than 514 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed Earth, sponge-like creatures called archaeocyathids were already busy building some of the planet's earliest reefs—just north of Death Valley in present-day Nevada.
Early apes evolved in tropical forests disturbed by fires and volcanoes, fossil find suggests
Great apes began to diverge from other primates about 25 million years ago, according to eastern African fossil records. Though it would take another 20 million or so years for upright-walking hominins to appear, understanding the habitats of early apes helps clarify how environments drove the evolution of our distant ancestors.
Genome of a 28-eyed jellyfish could provide insight on evolution of vision
One of the biggest mysteries of evolution is how species first developed complex vision. Jellyfish are helping scientists solve this puzzle, as the group has independently evolved eyes at least nine separate times. Different species of jellyfish have strikingly different types of vision, from simple eyespots that detect light intensity to sophisticated lens eyes similar to those in humans.
Animals can't talk like humans do—here's why the hunt for their languages has left us empty-handed
Why do humans have language and other animals apparently don't? It's one of the most enduring questions in the study of mind and communication. Across all cultures, humans use richly expressive languages built on complex structures, which let us talk about the past, the future, imaginary worlds, moral dilemmas and mathematical truths. No other species does this.
Patterns sculpted by physics: Evolution as revealed by turtle scales
In most vertebrates, skin appendages such as hair, feathers, or scales originate from placodes—small, specialized skin regions whose spatial organization is controlled by well-conserved genetic signals. Crocodiles are an exception: their head scales do not emerge from placodes but result from simple mechanical folding of the growing skin.
Sexual selection: Human odor-based mating preferences do not guarantee gamete-level compatibility
A recent study led by the University of Eastern Finland explored sexual selection in humans by investigating whether female odor-based mating preferences could predict how compatible male and female gametes are.
Echolocation research sheds light on how whales and dolphins use sound
Toothed whales use sound to find their way around, detect objects, and catch fish. They can investigate their environment by making clicking sounds, and then decoding the "echoic return signal" created when the clicking sounds bounce off objects and return to their ears. This "biosonar," called echolocation, is rare in the animal kingdom.
Two-million-year-old pitted teeth from our ancient relatives reveal secrets about human evolution
The enamel that forms the outer layer of our teeth might seem like an unlikely place to find clues about evolution. But it tells us more than you'd think about the relationships between our fossil ancestors and relatives.
Rediscovery of the protist Glissandra: Elucidating common features of the uncharacterized CRuMs lineage
Protists (eukaryotes, excluding animals, land plants, and fungi) comprise the bulk of the eukaryotic phylogenetic tree, making their diversity essential to understanding eukaryotic evolution. Nevertheless, they remain understudied due to their microscopic size and difficulty in cultivation.
Amino acids as catalysts in the emergence of RNA
The question of how life could have emerged is one of the most long-standing mysteries in science. In a new study, the laboratory of LMU Professor Dieter Braun has uncovered an unexpected form of molecular collaboration between the fundamental components of life. The researchers found that amino acids—simple, abundant molecules on early Earth—can actively promote the polymerization of RNA under mild, prebiotic conditions.
Punctuated equilibrium: Analysis shows rapid evolutionary leaps in cephalopods, languages and ancient enzymes
Over the past 500 million years, nearly all evolutionary changes in octopuses and squids occurred in rapid bursts during the emergence of new species, according to research from the University of Auckland.
MN1 gene study reveals link between brain and skull co-evolution
A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology has uncovered how the MN1 gene evolved to shape both the brain and skull during embryogenesis—a link with profound implications for understanding evolution and development but also birth defects. The work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Two plant species 'invent' the same chemically complex and medically interesting substance
Plants produce an enormous abundance of natural products. Many natural plant products are ancestry-specific and occur only in certain plant families, sometimes only in a single species. Interestingly, however, the same substances can sometimes be found in distantly related species.
Study resolves diatom tree of life, revealing rapid speciation 170 million years ago
Trees get most of the love, but diatoms, a group of photosynthetic microalgae, produce 20% of Earth's oxygen and are the foundation of aquatic food webs. The prevalence and diversity of diatoms have made them highly successful, suggesting the evolutionary history of diatoms is worth understanding as an important piece of the larger puzzle of life on Earth.
Breaking monogamy: Mate-switching found to have no effect on chick success in Seychelles warblers
A study of Seychelles warblers led by Macquarie University in Australia, with collaborators in the UK and Netherlands, finds no measurable connection between how long bird parents stayed together and the physical condition or reproductive success of their offspring.
If it looks like a dire wolf, is it a dire wolf? How to define a species is a scientific and philosophical question
Biotech company Colossal Biosciences made headlines in April 2025 after claiming it had "successfully restored … the dire wolf to its rightful place in the ecosystem." Three wolf pups—Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi—were born through this de-extinction project.
Enamel proteins from Paranthropus robustus teeth reveal biological sex and genetic variability
A large international team of anthropologists, evolutionary theorists, biologists, and historians has identified gender and genetic variability via sequencing of enamel proteins from four Paranthropus robustus teeth within the species. In their study, published in the journal Science, the group analyzed proteins preserved in the fossilized tooth enamel of ancient hominins.
Dinosaur eggshell study confirms biogenic origin of secondary eggshell units
The calcitic layers of the eggshells of archosaurs (including crocodilians and birds) and turtles are composed of distinctive crystalline structures known as eggshell units. Those growing from the shell membrane are called primary eggshell units (PEUs), while those forming within the calcitic layer are called secondary eggshell units (SEUs). Although rare in modern bird eggs, SEUs are common in dinosaur eggs. Due to the lack of in-depth research on this structure, however, scientists are uncertain whether they are biogenic or abiogenic in origin.
Immune restraint through the ages: PD-1 pathway traced to sharks
In 1992, graduate student Yasumasa Ishida discovered PD-1, marking the beginning of a journey that would make this molecule a major target in cancer immunotherapy. Now, Dr. Ishida and colleagues provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of PD-1 and its interacting molecules. Published in Frontiers in Immunology, this new work underscores the essential nature of the PD-1 system across jawed vertebrates and offers interesting new molecular insights that may guide future immunotherapies.
Context-based evolution teaching can enhance student comprehension
A new study conducted by the Institute for Biology Education has concluded that the way in which supporting knowledge of key evolutionary findings is taught in biology lessons influences the entire network of knowledge that students acquire.
The rise and fall—and rise again—of white-tailed deer
Given their abundance in American backyards, gardens and highway corridors these days, it may be surprising to learn that white-tailed deer were nearly extinct about a century ago. While they currently number somewhere in the range of 30 million to 35 million, at the turn of the 20th century, there were as few as 300,000 whitetails across the entire continent: just 1% of the current population.
How the evolution of a single gene allowed the plague to adapt, prolonging the pandemics
Scientists have documented the way a single gene in the bacterium that causes bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, allowed it to survive hundreds of years by adjusting its virulence and the length of time it took to kill its victims, but these forms of plague ultimately died out.
Long shot science leads to revised age for land-animal ancestor
In 1984, an amateur paleontologist in Scotland found a remarkable specimen: a nearly complete fossil of what looked to be a lizard or salamander. Rather small in size at 20 centimeters, it would turn out to be a crucial piece in the puzzle of animal evolution.
Europe's most complete stegosaurian skull unearthed in Teruel, Spain
Paleontologists from the Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis have published new research in the journal Vertebrate Zoology. The article describes a partial stegosaurian skull discovered in the municipality of Riodeva (Teruel, Spain) and proposes a new hypothesis about the evolutionary history of plated dinosaurs.
'Living fossil' velvet worm species discovered in South Africa's arid Karoo region
In March 2022, Stellenbosch University (SU) student Rohan Barnard was out on a farm in the Swartberg Mountains between Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn, flipping over rocks looking for ants, reptiles and other critters, when he stumbled upon the finding of a lifetime.
Mangrove crabs use optical geometry to enhance conspecific signaling
In the tangled darkness of Southeast Asian mangrove forests, one crab species appears to have evolved a structure that functions like a miniature car headlamp. Researchers at the National University of Singapore have discovered that the facial bands of Parasesarma eumolpe crabs are shaped to concentrate reflected light, making signals between individuals brighter and more effective.