Latest Evolutionary biology Stories

Individuals of a particular species generally differ from one another. We are clearly most adept at recognizing members of our own species, although dog and cat owners will be ready to confirm that their pets look unique. Differences within species relate to characteristics such as size and shape but also to color: it is not only humans that show a wide range of skin pigmentation. Nevertheless, the cause of the variation in skin color in animals has remained largely a matter for conjecture....

Although scientists have known since the middle of the 19th century that the tropics are teeming with species while the poles harbor relatively few, the origin of the most dramatic and pervasive biodiversity on Earth has never been clear. New research sheds light on how that pattern came about. Furthermore, it confirms that the tropics have been and continue to be the Earth's engine of biodiversity. By examining marine bivalves (two-shelled mollusks including scallops, cockles and...

Preschool children who have been neglected or emotionally abused exhibit a range of emotional and behavioral difficulties and adverse mother-child interactions that indicate these children require prompt evaluation and interventions, according to a systematic review by Aideen Mary Naughton, M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O., D.C.H., F.R.C.P.C.H., of Public Health Wales, Pontypool, England, and colleagues. A total of 42 studies of children age 0 to 6 years with confirmed neglect or emotional abuse who...

Females play a larger role in determining paternity than previously thought, say biologists in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences. Their findings are the subject of a new paper titled "Female mediation of competitive fertilization success in Drosophila melanogaster," published this month by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Stefan Lüpold, a research assistant professor in the college's Department of Biology and the paper's...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Some genes within an organism’s DNA have been there for a billion years and can be traced back through earlier species, while other genes are newly acquired and only a few million years old. According to a new report in the journal Science, these newly acquired genes can quickly become a major part of an organism’s genetic machinery and even essential for life. In the study, a team of American and German researchers were able to...

American Chemical Society Using the same devious mechanism that enables some bacteria to shrug off powerful antibiotics, scientists have developed solar-powered nanofilters that remove antibiotics from the water in lakes and rivers twice as efficiently as the best existing technology. Their report appears in ACS’ journal NanoLetters. David Wendell and Vikram Kapoor explain that antibiotics from toilets and other sources find their way into lakes and rivers, with traces appearing in 80...

Genetic mutation of a testis stem cell actually gives the disease an edge, making older fathers more likely to pass it along to their children Scientists at USC have unlocked the mystery of why new cases of the genetic disease Noonan Syndrome are so common: a mutation that causes the disease disproportionately increases a normal father’s production of sperm carrying the disease trait. When this Noonan syndrome mutation arises in a normal sperm stem cell it makes that cell more likely...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online When it came to jump-starting life, the early Earth was not a very hospitable place. New research from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) reveals that life on Earth may indeed have come from outer space. LLNL scientist Nir Goldman and UOIT’s Isaac Tamblyn – a former LLNL postdoctoral researcher – found that billions of years ago icy comets crashed into...

Letter from health professionals urges President to pressure FDA to act on stalled antibiotics policies to protect public health. Washington, DC (PRWEB) June 04, 2013 Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), Healthy Food Action, and the Pew Charitable Trusts delivered a letter with signatures from 795 health professionals to President Barack Obama today, urging him to pressure the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to act on stalled policies to reduce the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food...

Given the chance, women are more likely than men to opt out of a request to give a charitable donation, a group of economists have found. The issue of which gender is more generous has been debated for years. A new field experiment conducted by scholars at the University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley shows that when it’s easy to avoid making a donation, such as not responding to a door-to-door solicitor, women are less likely than men to give. The results of the...