News tagged with animal evolution
Genetic study of black chickens shed light on mechanisms causing rapid evolution in domestic animals
The genetic changes underlying the evolution of new species are still poorly understood. For instance, we know little about critical changes that have happened during human evolution. Genetic studies in domestic animals can ...
Dec 22, 2011 |
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Studying bat skulls, evolutionary biologists discover how species evolve
A new study involving bat skulls, bite force measurements and scat samples collected by an international team of evolutionary biologists is helping to solve a nagging question of evolution: Why some groups ...
Nov 23, 2011 |
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Study: Triple threat paints grim future for frogs
Frogs, salamanders and other amphibians may eventually have no safe haven left on the globe because of a triple threat of worsening scourges, a new study predicts.
Nov 16, 2011 |
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Robotic bug gets wings, sheds light on evolution of flight (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- A six-legged, 25 gram robot has been fitted with flapping wings in order to gain an insight into the evolution of early birds and insects.
Oct 17, 2011 |
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Lungfish provides insight to life on land
A study into the muscle development of several different fish has given insights into the genetic leap that set the scene for the evolution of hind legs in terrestrial animals. This innovation gave rise to the tetrapods—four-legged ...
Oct 04, 2011 |
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When plants go polyploid
(PhysOrg.com) -- Plant lineages with multiple copies of their genetic information face higher extinction rates than their relatives, researchers report in Science magazine.
Sep 13, 2011 |
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The rise and rise of the flying reptiles
(PhysOrg.com) -- Pterosaurs, flying reptiles from the time of the dinosaurs, were not driven to extinction by the birds, but in fact they continued to diversify and innovate for millions of years afterwards.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 06, 2011 |
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The Animal Connection -- a new perspective on what makes us human
"The Animal Connection," a new book by Pat Shipman, a Penn State paleoanthropologist, presents the groundbreaking new idea that humans' connection to other animal species may be the driving force behind the ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 05, 2011 |
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Black, white and stinky: Explaining coloration in skunks and other boldly colored animals
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a first-of-its-kind analysis of the evolution of warning coloration in carnivores published this week by University of Massachusetts Amherst evolutionary biologist Ted Stankowich and colleagues, ...
May 30, 2011 |
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The peculiar feeding mechanism of the first vertebrates
A fang-like tooth on double upper lips, spiny teeth on the tongue and a pulley-like mechanism to move the tongue backwards and forwards -- this bizarre bite belongs to a conodont and, thanks to fresh fossil ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 19, 2011 |
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Errors in protein structure sparked evolution of biological complexity
Over four billion years of evolution, plants and animals grew far more complex than their single-celled ancestors. But a new comparison of proteins shared across species finds that complex organisms, including humans, have ...
May 18, 2011 |
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Did dinosaurs have lice? Researchers say it's possible
A new study louses up a popular theory of animal evolution and opens up the possibility that dinosaurs were early – perhaps even the first – animal hosts of lice.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 06, 2011 |
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Evolution drives many plants and animals to be bigger, faster
For the vast majority of plants and animals, the 'bigger is better' view of evolution may not be far off the mark, says a new broad-scale study of natural selection. Organisms with bigger bodies or faster growth rates tend ...
Mar 07, 2011 |
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Parents 'more caring' in dangerous environment
Changes in the environment that put the lives of adults at risk drive parents to invest more in caring for their offspring, Oxford University scientists have found.
Jan 19, 2011 |
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Oxygen's challenge to early life
The conventional view of the history of the Earth is that the oceans became oxygen-rich to approximately the degree they are today in the Late Ediacaran Period (about 600 million years ago) after staying relatively ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 05, 2011 |
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