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News tagged with darwin

A salt-free primordial soup?

Most scientists who study the origin of life assume that it occurred in the ocean. But a minority view is that ions in seawater may interfere with prebiotic chemistry, making a freshwater environment more ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Lost' Darwin fossils rediscovered

A rare collection of fossils, including some collected by Charles Darwin, has been 'rediscovered' at the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jan 17, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New tool puts plant hormone under surveillance

(PhysOrg.com) -- Charles Darwin was the first to speculate that plants contain hormones. His pioneering research led to the identification of the very first and key plant growth hormone — auxin — ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows species can change

A study of South American songbirds completed by the Department of Biology at Queen's University and the Argentine Museum of Natural History, has discovered these birds differ dramatically in colour and song yet show very ...

Biology / Evolution

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Acquired traits can be inherited via small RNAs

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found the first direct evidence that an acquired trait can be inherited without any DNA involvement. The findings suggest that Lamarck, whose theory of evolution ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Dramatic diversity of columbine flowers explained by a simple change in cell shape

Columbine flowers are recognizable by the long, trailing nectar spurs that extend from the bases of their petals, tempting the taste buds of their insect pollinators.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Known and unknown: Great travellers of the Pacific

When a well-known travel magazine set out to identify the top ten travellers of all time, the names it came up with held few surprises. Top of its list, which encompassed Charles Darwin and Christopher Columbus, ...

Other Sciences / Other

created Nov 07, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Biologists learn how plants synthesize their growth hormone auxin

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have succeeded in unraveling, for the first time, the complete chain of biochemical reactions that controls the synthesis of auxin, the hormone that regulates nearly all ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A hitchhiker's guide to the Galapagos: co-evolution of Galapagos mockingbirds and their parasites

Along with the famous finches the Galapagos mockingbirds had a great influence on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Now, 176 years later, three of the four mockingbird species are among the rarest birds ...

Biology / Evolution

created Oct 03, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Tree frogs chill out to collect precious water

Research published in the October issue of The American Naturalist shows that Australian green tree frogs survive the dry season with the help of the same phenomenon that fogs up eyeglasses in the winter.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Manipulative mothers subdue show-off sons

The gaudy plumage and acrobatic displays of birds of paradise are a striking example of sexual selection, Charles Darwin's second great theory of evolution. But new research shows that this powerful process may collapse when ...

Biology / Evolution

created Sep 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Fossil eel' squirms into the record books

A new species of eel found in the gloom of an undersea cave is a "living fossil" astonishingly similar to the first eels that swam some 200 million years ago, biologists reported on Wednesday.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 17, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (19) | comments 58

Scientist finds rapidly adapting fanged frogs

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists led by biologist Ben Evans of McMaster University have documented the rapid adaptation of new fanged frog species on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 16, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (9) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

'Supergene' is key to copycat butterflies

Since Charles Darwin, biologists have pondered the mystery of "mimicry butterflies", which survive by copying the wing patterns of other butterflies that taste horrible to their predators, birds.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 12, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0

Famed fossil isn't a bird after all, analysis says

(AP) -- One of the world's most famous fossil creatures, widely considered the earliest known bird, is getting a rude present on the 150th birthday of its discovery: A new analysis suggests it isn't a bird ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jul 27, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (10) | comments 9