http://www.physorg.com/biology-news/evolution/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on evolution New Yorkers are used to fighting each other for space, but there may be a new contender in town according to a Rockefeller study that appears to have uncovered a new species of cockroach. http://www.physorg.com/news180844499.html Biology - Evolution Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:35:24 EST news180844499 An international team of scientists has discovered how changes in both gene expression and gene sequence led to the diversity of visual systems in African cichlid fish. http://www.physorg.com/news180727170.html Biology - Evolution Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:30:01 EST news180727170 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of thousands of species of plants and animals suggests new species may arise from rare events instead of through an accumulation of small changes made in response to changes in the environment. http://www.physorg.com/news179737267.html Biology - Evolution Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:40:02 EST news179737267 (PhysOrg.com) -- Despite being a founding principle of modern biology for 150 years, evolutionary theory has played a limited role in the field of medicine. Only in the last 20 years has Darwinian medicine emerged as a discipline unto itself. An article in this month`s issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology explains why early attempts to study disease from an evolutionary perspective failed, and how modern Darwinian medicine differs from its antecedent. http://www.physorg.com/news179686563.html Biology - Evolution Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:19:48 EST news179686563 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ancient DNA retrieved from extinct horse species from around the world has challenged one of the textbook examples of evolution - the fossil record of the horse family Equidae over the past 55 million years. http://www.physorg.com/news179653662.html Biology - Evolution Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:40:01 EST news179653662 Although Charles Darwin is most well-known for his book On the Origin of Species, in which he described the process of natural selection, he greatly contributed to many specific fields within biology. As the bicentennial anniversary of Darwin's birth comes to a close, the December issue of the American Journal of Botany presents two papers exploring botanical history before the time of Darwin, Darwin's contributions to botany, and what scientists have discovered in the subsequent years following Darwin's first presentation of his many provocative ideas to the scientific community. http://www.physorg.com/news179593531.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:20:04 EST news179593531 In contrast to the exhaustive research into venom produced by snakes and spiders, venomous fish have been neglected and remain something of a mystery. Now, a study of 158 catfish species, published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, has catalogued the presence of venom glands and investigated their biological effects. http://www.physorg.com/news179133781.html Biology - Evolution Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:24:07 EST news179133781 Chemical identifiers secreted from the genital glands of lemurs, allow them to avoid incest and also to engage in nepotism. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology have identified the smells used by both male and female ring-tailed lemurs to advertize their family ties. http://www.physorg.com/news179004415.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:00:01 EST news179004415 To Charles Darwin it was an 'abominable mystery' and it is a question which has continued to vex evolutionists to this day: when did flowering plants evolve and how did they come to dominate plant life on earth? Today a study in Ecology Letters reveals the evolutionary trigger which led to early flowering plants gaining a major competitive advantage over rival species, leading to their subsequent boom and abundance. http://www.physorg.com/news178887468.html Biology - Evolution Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:58:49 EST news178887468 As global temperatures continue to rise scientists are presented with the complex challenge of understanding how species respond and adapt. In a paper published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, Dr Francisco Rodriguez-Trelles and Dr Miguel Rodriguez assess this challenge. http://www.physorg.com/news178801465.html Biology - Evolution Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:05:02 EST news178801465 The world's largest species of monkey 'chooses' mates with genes that are different from their own to guarantee healthy and strong offspring, according to a new research study. http://www.physorg.com/news178315092.html Biology - Evolution Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:59:12 EST news178315092 (PhysOrg.com) -- New research could help protect the future of a rare bird in the Galapagos Islands that was an inspiration for Darwin`s theory of evolution by natural selection, scientists report in a paper published in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters today. http://www.physorg.com/news177779374.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:10:55 EST news177779374 Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent. http://www.physorg.com/news177083943.html Biology - Evolution Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:59:42 EST news177083943 Many people have tried to read Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species," whose publication celebrates its 150th anniversary this month, but gave up. http://www.physorg.com/news176996690.html Biology - Evolution Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:45:59 EST news176996690 Rice University evolutionary biologists David Queller and Joan Strassmann argue in a new paper that high cooperation and low conflict between components, from the genetic level on up, give a living thing its "organismality," whether that thing is an animal, a plant, a bacteria - or a colony. http://www.physorg.com/news176990429.html Biology - Evolution Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:06:53 EST news176990429 (PhysOrg.com) -- A painstaking analysis of thousands of genes and the proteins they encode shows that human beings are biologically complex, at least in part, because of the way humans evolved to cope with redundancies arising from duplicate genes. http://www.physorg.com/news176478025.html Biology - Evolution Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:40:54 EST news176478025 Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a theoretical model that informs the understanding of evolution and determines how quickly an organism will evolve using a catalogue of "evolutionary speed limits." The model provides quantitative predictions for the speed of evolution on various "fitness landscapes," the dynamic and varied conditions under which bacteria, viruses and even humans adapt. http://www.physorg.com/news176390372.html Biology - Evolution Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:50:04 EST news176390372 (PhysOrg.com) -- Unnoticed by the nearby residents of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, tiny leaf beetles that flit among the maple and willow trees in the area have just provided some of the clearest evidence yet that environmental factors play a major role in the formation of new species. http://www.physorg.com/news176123110.html Biology - Evolution Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:12:32 EST news176123110 (PhysOrg.com) -- It is widely believed that women live long post-reproductive lives to help care for their grandchildren. According to the "Grandmother Hypothesis," post-menopausal women can increase their genetic contribution to future generations by increasing the survivorship of their grandchildren. http://www.physorg.com/news176054402.html Biology - Evolution Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:01:00 EST news176054402 Culture, not just genes, can drive evolutionary outcomes, according to a study released Wednesday that compares individualist and group-oriented societies across the globe. http://www.physorg.com/news175955032.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:50:01 EST news175955032 When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species 150 years ago, he deliberately avoided the subject of the origin of life. This, coupled with the mention of the 'Creator' in the last paragraph of the book, led us to believe he was not willing to commit on the matter. An international team, led by Juli Peretó of the Cavanilles Institute in Valencia, now refutes that idea and shows that the British naturalist did explain in other documents how our first ancestors could have come into being. http://www.physorg.com/news175861437.html Biology - Evolution Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:24:20 EST news175861437 (PhysOrg.com) -- OK, it takes two for human reproduction, and now it seems that plants and animals that can rely on either a partner or go alone by self-fertilization give their offspring a better chance for longer lives when they opt for a mate. http://www.physorg.com/news175352648.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:05:04 EST news175352648 A team of Spanish and Portuguese researchers has carried out molecular genetic analysis of the Y chromosome (transmitted only by males) of the aboriginal population of the Canary Islands to determine their origin and the extent to which they have survived in the current population. The results suggest a North African origin for these paternal lineages which, unlike maternal lineages, have declined to the point of being practically replaced today by European lineages. http://www.physorg.com/news175350099.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:50:04 EST news175350099 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new book claims even modern athletes could not run as fast, jump as high, or have been nearly as strong as our predecessors. http://www.physorg.com/news175332184.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:24:47 EST news175332184 Although advances in medical care have improved standards of living over time, humans aren't entirely sheltered from the forces of natural selection, a new study shows. http://www.physorg.com/news175185659.html Biology - Evolution Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:41:34 EST news175185659 A 21-year Michigan State University experiment that distills the essence of evolution in laboratory flasks not only demonstrates natural selection at work, but could lead to biotechnology and medical research advances, researchers said. http://www.physorg.com/news175092009.html Biology - Evolution Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:41:06 EST news175092009 Emory University researchers have identified the first fish known to have switched from ultraviolet vision to violet vision, or the ability to see blue light. The discovery is also the first example of an animal deleting a molecule to change its visual spectrum. http://www.physorg.com/news174914029.html Biology - Evolution Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:14:50 EST news174914029 Standing out in a crowd is better than blending in, at least if you're a paper wasp in a colony where fights between nest-mates determine social status. http://www.physorg.com/news174827689.html Biology - Evolution Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:15:46 EST news174827689 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a sense, Antonis Rokas is an arborist: He is a member of a small cadre to scientists who are applying the growing power of genomics to untangle and correctly arrange the branches of the Tree of Life. http://www.physorg.com/news174242914.html Biology - Evolution Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:50:21 EST news174242914 There is no doubt that modern contraception has enabled women to have unprecedented control over their own fertility. However, is it possible that the use of oral contraceptives is interfering with a woman's ability to choose, compete for and retain her preferred mate? A new paper published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution reviews emerging evidence suggesting that contraceptive methods which alter a woman's natural hormonal cycles may have an underappreciated impact on choice of partners for both women and men and, possibly, reproductive success. http://www.physorg.com/news174140457.html Biology - Evolution Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:10:01 EST news174140457