Category Archives: Latest on Evolution

Finding Your Inner Fish

Dr. Neil Shubin, an Univeristy of Chicago Evolutionary Paleontologist explains how we all contain over 3.5 million years of history in every part of our human bodies. Learn how this fascinating history unfolded in this installment of the Darwin Evolves series from UCLA. Series: Darwin Evolving.

4-Eyed Daddy Longlegs Helps Explain Arachnid Evolution

The ancient ancestors of today's harvestmen, the spider-like arachnids sometimes called "daddy longlegs," had not just one, but two sets of eyes, a newfound fossil reveals. The recent discovery of this harvestman fossil in eastern France may shed light on the evolution of these arachnids, which can be found on every continent except Antarctica, the…

Microbes may have contributed to Earth’s biggest extinction

A microbial feeding frenzy may have fueled the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history, new research suggests. The findings suggest that bacteria, with a little help from massive volcanism, produced large quantities of methane, thereby killing 90 percent of life on the planet. Mass extinction About 252 million years ago, more than 96 percent of ocean…

First Out of Africa – The totally isolated Tribe of the Andaman

The Andamanese people are the various aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, a district of India located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The Andamanese have been classified as Negritos, together with a few other isolated groups in Asia by raciologist theories. They are pygmies, and are the only modern people outside…

DNA from fossils reveal origin of Norwegian lemmings

A new ancient DNA study shows that the Norwegian lemming has a unique history. In contrast to other mammals in Fennoscandia, the Norwegian lemming may have survived the last Ice Age in the far north, sealed off from the rest of the world by gigantic ice sheets. This conclusion is drawn by an international team…

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Triggered Lethal Acid Rain

The oceans soured into a deadly sulfuric-acid stew after the huge asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, a new study suggests. Eighty percent of the planet's species died off at the end of theCretaceous Period 65.5 million years ago, including most marine life in the upper ocean, as well as swimmers and drifters in lakes…

Dinosaur skull may reveal T. rex’s smaller cousin from the north

A 70 million year old fossil found in the Late Cretaceous sediments of Alaska reveals a new small tyrannosaur, according to a paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 12, 2014 by co-authors Anthony Fiorillo and Ronald S. Tykoski from Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Texas, and colleagues. Tyrannosaurs, the lineage of carnivorous…

Skin cancer could have directly driven the evolution of dark skin in humans, a study on people with albinism in modern Africa suggests. Albinism is an inherited disorder that prevents people from making melanin, a black or brown pigment. Albino people in sub-Saharan Africa almost universally die of skin cancer — and at young ages, according to a…

New fossil species: Origin of toothed whale echolocation

Research led by an anatomy professor at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine indicates that echolocation -- the sonar-like system based on high-frequency vocalizations and their echoes -- was present in a 28-million-year old relative of modern-day toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Associate Professor Jonathan Geisler led the study of a new…

Convergent evolution: New fins evolve repeatedly in teleost fishes

Though present in more than 6,000 living species of fish, the adipose fin, a small appendage that lies between the dorsal fin and tail, has no clear function and is thought to be vestigial. However, a new study analyzing their origins finds that these fins arose repeatedly and independently in multiple species. In addition, adipose…