Category Archives: Latest on Evolution

Counting fish teeth reveals regulatory DNA changes behind rapid evolution, adaptation

Sticklebacks, the roaches of the fish world, are the ideal animal in which to study the genes that control body shape. They've moved from the ocean into tens of thousands of freshwater streams and lakes around the world, each time changing their skeleton to adapt to the new environment. Breeding studies between marine and freshwater…

How evolutionary principles could help save our world

The age of the Anthropocene--the scientific name given to our current geologic age--is dominated by human impacts on our environment. A warming climate. Increased resistance of pathogens and pests. A swelling population. Coping with these modern global challenges requires application of what one might call a more ancient principle: evolution. That's the recommendation of a diverse…

Neuroscientists identify key role of language gene

Neuroscientists have found that a gene mutation that arose more than half a million years ago may be key to humans' unique ability to produce and understand speech. Researchers from MIT and several European universities have shown that the human version of a gene called Foxp2 makes it easier to transform new experiences into routine…

Flapping baby birds give clues to origin of flight

How did the earliest birds take wing? Did they fall from trees and learn to flap their forelimbs to avoid crashing? Or did they run along the ground and pump their "arms" to get aloft? The answer is buried 150 million years in the past, but a new University of California, Berkeley, study provides a…

How the zebrafish gets its stripes: Uncovering how beautiful color patterns can develop in animals

The zebrafish, a small fresh water fish, owes its name to a striking pattern of blue stripes alternating with golden stripes. Three major pigment cell types, black cells, reflective silvery cells, and yellow cells emerge during growth in the skin of the tiny juvenile fish and arrange as a multilayered mosaic to compose the…

Ancient toothless pterosaurs once dominated the world’s skies

Giant toothless pterosaurs with wingspans stretching 39 feet across ruled the skies 60 million years ago, and new research suggests that these ancient flying creatures once had a worldwide presence, and likely played an important role in the Late Cretaceous ecosystem. Despite their formidable size, the pterosaurs in the Azhdarchidae family had no teeth. The new…

8,000-year-old mutation key to human life at high altitudes: Study identifies genetic basis for Tibetan adaptation

In an environment where others struggle to survive, Tibetans thrive in the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of 14,800 feet. A study led by University of Utah scientists is the first to find a genetic cause for the adaptation -- a single DNA base pair change that dates back…

Evolutionary misfit: Misunderstood worm-like fossil finds its place in the Tree of Life

One of the most bizarre-looking fossils ever found -- a worm-like creature with legs, spikes and a head difficult to distinguish from its tail -- has found its place in the evolutionary Tree of Life, definitively linking it with a group of modern animals for the first time. The animal, known as Hallucigenia due to its…

Four-billion-year-old chemistry in cells today

Parts of the primordial soup in which life arose have been maintained in our cells today according to scientists at the University of East Anglia. Research published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry reveals how cells in plants, yeast and very likely also in animals still perform ancient reactions thought to have been responsible for the…

Marmoset sequence sheds new light on primate biology and evolution

A team of scientists from around the world led by Baylor College of Medicine and Washington University in St. Louis has completed the genome sequence of the common marmoset -- the first sequence of a New World Monkey -- providing new information about the marmoset's unique rapid reproductive system, physiology and growth, shedding new…