Paleontologists discover new mammal from Mesozoic Era
An international team of American and Chinese paleontologists has discovered a new species of mammal that lived 125 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era, in what is now the Hebei Province in China. view more (2007-03-15)
Aging boosts chances that a family line will be long-lived
Scientists have puzzled over just why organisms evolved aging as a strategy, and now there appears to be an answer. Allowing one individual to carry all the cellular damage inflicted over time, rather than dividing it between two organisms during reproduction, increases the chances that the individual's line will continue to reproduce for many... view more... (2007-03-14)
UCI scientists reconstruct migration of avian flu virus
UC Irvine researchers have combined genetic and geographic data of the H5N1 avian flu virus to reconstruct its history over the past decade. They found that multiple strains of the virus originated in the Chinese province of Guangdong, and they identified many of the migration routes through which the strains spread regionally and internationally. view more (2007-03-06)
New study rewrites evolutionary history of vespid wasps
Scientists at the University of Illinois have conducted a genetic analysis of vespid wasps that revises the vespid family tree and challenges long-held views about how the wasps' social behaviors evolved. In the study, published in the Feb. 21 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found genetic evidence that eusociality... view more... (2007-03-02)
Man's best friend lends insight into human evolution
Flexibly drawing inferences about the intentions of other individuals in order to cooperate in complex tasks is a basic part of everyday life that we humans take for granted. view more (2007-03-02)
Experimental evolution in robots probes the emergence of biological communication
Using an ingenious approach involving virtual robots that possess evolvable genomes, researchers have identified key factors that may play important roles in determining the manner in which communication arises during the evolution of social organisms. view more (2007-02-23)
Europeans' understanding of science, evolution, more advanced than Americans
When it comes to scientific literacy, Americans aren't nearly as evolved as they may think. In fact, only about 40 percent of American adults accept the basic idea of evolution, a figure much lower than any European country. view more (2007-02-16)
Pitt professor contends biological underpinnings
Jeffrey H. Schwartz, University of Pittsburgh professor of anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, is working to debunk a major tenet of Darwinian evolution. view more (2007-02-12)
Investigating the invisible life in our environment
Microorganisms make up more than a third of the Earth's biomass. They are found in water, on land and even in our bodies, recycling nutrients, influencing the planet's climate or causing diseases. view more (2007-02-02)
Salmonella survives better in stomach due to altered DNA
Since 1995 there has been a considerable increase in the number of infections with a specific type of Salmonella bacteria transmitted via food. This type, Salmonella serovar Typhimurium DT104, is resistant to at least five different antibiotics. view more (2007-01-31)
Does evolution select for faster evolvers?
It's a mystery why the speed and complexity of evolution appear to increase with time. For example, the fossil record indicates that single-celled life first appeared about 3.5 billion years ago, and it then took about 2.5 billion more years for multi-cellular life to evolve. view more (2007-01-30)
Astronomers find the most distant star clusters hidden behind a nearby cluster
Astronomers have discovered the most distant population of star clusters ever seen, hidden behind one of the nearest such clusters to Earth. view more (2007-01-11)
Annual plants may cope with global warming better than long-living species
Countering Charles Darwin's view that evolution occurs gradually, UC Irvine scientists have discovered that plants with short life cycles can evolutionally adapt in just a few years to climate change. view more (2007-01-09)
Complexity constrains evolution of human brain genes
Despite the explosive growth in size and complexity of the human brain, the pace of evolutionary change among the thousands of genes expressed in brain tissue has actually slowed since the split, millions of years ago, between human and chimpanzee. view more (2006-12-26)
Human-chimp difference may be bigger
Approximately 6 percent of human and chimp genes are unique to those species, report scientists from Indiana University Bloomington and three other institutions. view more (2006-12-20)
A new male-specific gene in algae unveils an origin of male and female
By studying the genetics of two closely related species of green algae that practice different forms of sexual reproduction, researchers have shed light on one route by which evolution gave rise to reproduction though the joining of distinct sperm and egg cells. view more (2006-12-19)
Finding an answer to Darwin's Dilemma
The sudden appearance of large animal fossils more than 500 million years ago - a problem that perplexed even Charles Darwin and is commonly known as "Darwin's Dilemma" - may be due to a huge increase of oxygen in the world's oceans, says Queen's paleontologist Guy Narbonne, an expert in the early evolution of animals and their... view more... (2006-12-11)
Blame Our Evolutionary Risk of Cancer on Our Body Mass
A key enzyme that cuts short our cellular lifespan in an effort to thwart cancer has now been linked to body mass. view more (2006-12-06)
Vanishing beetle horns have surprise function
The function of horned beetles' wild protrusions has been a matter of some consternation for biologists. Digging seemed plausible; combat and mate selection, more likely. Even Charles Darwin once weighed in on the matter, suggesting - one imagines with some frustration - the horns were merely ornamental. view more (2006-12-05)
The turbidity of wine has an influence on the aroma of the ferment, but not on the accumulation of biogenic amines
The turbidity of red wine during its ageing in oak casks has an influence on the accumulation of volatile compounds and, thereby, on the wine's aroma, but not on the accumulation of biogenic amines. view more (2006-11-28)
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