Study Finds Evolution Doesn't Always Favor Bigger Animals

User rating: 4.6 / 5 after 5 vote(s)

Photo shows increase in body size of deep-sea ostracode Poseidonamicus from 40 million years ago to 900000 years ago. Credit: Gene Hunt UCSD
Photo shows increase in body size of deep-sea ostracode Poseidonamicus from 40 million years ago to 900,000 years ago. Credit: Gene Hunt, UCSD

Biologists have long believed that bigger is better when it comes to body size, since many lineages of animals, from horses to dinosaurs, have evolved into larger species over time. But a study published this week by two biologists at the University of California, San Diego in an early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that maxim, known as “Cope’s Rule,” may be only partly true.


Full story »
All News summaries from General Science news
All News summaries for January 17, 2006

The groan says it all -- dominant male deer have the deepest calls

6 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- The low timbre and enticing vibrations of a deep voice have long been considered a key element of male attractiveness. Now it seems that it's not just human females that appreciate a husky vocalisation.

Global warming wiped out the first rainforests

24 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Spectacular discoveries of fossil forests show that global warming wiped out the first rainforests to evolve on our planet.

As Andean glacier retreats, tiny life forms swiftly move in, study shows

44 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
A University of Colorado at Boulder team working at 16,400 feet in the Peruvian Andes has discovered how barren soils uncovered by retreating glacier ice can swiftly establish a thriving community of microbes, ...

Study finds previously deported immigrants more likely to be rearrested after leaving jail

46 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
Deportable immigrants who previously have been expelled from the United States are more likely to be rearrested on suspicion of committing a crime after they are released from jail than other deportable immigrants without ...

An advance on new generations of chemotherapy and antiviral drugs

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers are describing progress toward developing a new generation of chemotherapy agents that target and block uncontrolled DNA replication — a hallmark of cancer, viral infections, and other diseases ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive