Latest Evolution Stories
Following one of Earth's five greatest mass extinctions, tiny marine organisms called graptoloids did not begin to rapidly develop new physical traits until about 2 million years after competing species became extinct. This discovery, based on new research, challenges the widely held assumption that a period of explosive evolution quickly follows for survivors of mass extinctions. In the absence of competition, the common theory goes, surviving species hurry to adapt, evolving new...
How long does it take a fruit fly to emerge from a cold-induced coma? How resistant is a fruit fly to starvation? How quickly can a fruit fly settle down after it is startled? The answer to these complex traits rests with genes, many of them that interact in complicated ways to produce an end result that is a phenotype or outward sign, said an international group of scientists, led by those from North Carolina State University, the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center...
How long does it take a fruit fly to emerge from a cold-induced coma? How resistant is a fruit fly to starvation? How quickly can a fruit fly settle down after it is startled? The answer to these complex traits rests with genes, many of them that interact in complicated ways to produce an end result that is a phenotype or outward sign, said an international group of scientists, led by those from North Carolina State University, the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center...
Rather than being physically wiped out, a new study suggests that Neanderthals were likely integrated into the gene pool of early humans after the two groups crossed paths and began interbreeding. The new study, published in the journal Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), was written by C. Michael Barton of Arizona State University (ASU) and Julien Riel-Salvatore of the University of Colorado Denver, and "builds on work published last year in the journal Human Ecology and on recent genetic...
HERNDON, Va., Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a company of VT Systems, Inc. (VT Systems), today announced that Marlink, one of the largest maritime VSAT network operators, has upgraded its global service with the integration of iDirect's Evolution® X5 Satellite Router and latest operating software release, iDX 3.0. Vessels operating Marlink's WaveCall(TM) services have all received the required onboard equipment, enabling Marlink to increase...
A team of American researchers have reportedly completed what they are calling the first experimental study of the phenomenon known as the founder effect -- the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established created using a small group from a larger existing population -- in a natural setting. The researchers, whose work was published online Friday in Science Express and is scheduled to appear in the print journal Science on February 17, "had an unprecedented...
Many independent fitness trainers agonize over how they can raise their rates or drop one of their services and still remain competitive, when big box franchises are slashing their rates down to $5 or $20 a month. Fitness Marketing Expert Sam Bakhtiar shares his thoughts. For more information, visit http://www.super-trainer.com. Chino Hills, CA (PRWEB) February 01, 2012 Many independent fitness trainers worry how they can stay afloat in this economy, when big box franchises are slashing...
Thirty-thousand-year-old bison bones discovered in permafrost at a Canadian goldmine are helping scientists unravel the mystery about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change. The bones play a key role in a world-first study, led by University of Adelaide researchers, which analyses special genetic modifications that turn genes on and off, without altering the DNA sequence itself. These 'epigenetic' changes can occur rapidly between generations – without requiring the time for...
Think of them as a group of guys, hanging out together, but not spending much time with the ladies, nor getting much "action." Except these "guys" are forked fungus beetles. Forked what? Yes, forked fungus beetles. Like other insects and animals, they have their own societies. Most are highly social, but some hang out in small guy groups. It turns out, maybe not surprisingly, that the cliquish ones – the small groups of male beetles that live on the fringes of society with their...
Mammals can evolve from the size of a mouse to the size of an elephant in as little as 24 million generations, although they shrink more than 10 times as fast as they grow to large sizes, according to new research reported Monday by an international team of biologists and paleontologists. The study is the first of its kind to measure how fast large-scale evolution can occur in mammals. The researchers explored increases and decreases in mammal size following the extinction of dinosaurs...
