Latest Evolutionary biology Stories

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Exposure to radioactive material released into the environment has caused mutations in butterflies found in Japan, according to a new study out of the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa. An increase in leg, antennae and wing shape mutations among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident were found by the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports. Laboratory experiments exposed the link between these...

We’re often told to ‘count our blessings’ and be grateful for what we have. And research shows that doing so makes us happier. But will it actually change our behavior towards others? A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that thinking about what we’ve given, rather than what we’ve received, may lead us to be more helpful toward others. Researchers Adam Grant of The Wharton School of the University of...

Max Planck scientist investigates the evolutionary model of Muller's ratchet From protozoans to mammals, evolution has created more and more complex structures and better-adapted organisms. This is all the more astonishing as most genetic mutations are deleterious. Especially in small asexual populations that do not recombine their genes, unfavorable mutations can accumulate. This process is known as Muller's ratchet in evolutionary biology. The ratchet, proposed by the American geneticist...

Rate of loss of species exceeds that of terrestrial animals North American freshwater fishes are going extinct at an alarming rate compared with other species, according to an article in the September issue of BioScience. The rate of extinctions increased noticeably after 1950, although it has leveled off in the past decade. The number of extinct species has grown by 25 percent since 1989. The article, by Noel M. Burkhead of the US Geological Survey, examines North American freshwater...

Scientists report new look at 'patterns in nature' in special issue of journal Ecology View patterns of nature in this photo gallery. Patterns in nature are in everything from ocean currents to a flower's petal. Scientists are taking a new look at Earth patterns, studying the biodiversity of yard plants in the U.S. and that of desert mammals in Israel, studying where flowers and bees live on the Tibetan plateau and how willow trees in America's Midwest make use of water. They're...

A five-country international team, led by Casey Eye Institute Molecular Diagnostic laboratory, BGI and Zhejiang University School of Medicine First Affiliated Hospital identified the NMNAT1 mutations as a cause of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), one of the most common causes of inherited blindness in children. The latest study was published online in Nature Genetics, reporting the genetic characteristics underlying some LCA patients, and providing important evidences that support NMNAT1 as...

Researchers from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Division and their collaborators have isolated an elusive human gene that causes a common form of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a relatively rare but devastating form of early-onset blindness. The new LCA gene is called NMNAT1. Finding the specific gene mutated in patients with LCA is the first step towards developing sight-saving gene therapy....

Fit Business Insider, a website devoted to helping grow personal training businesses, is now offering Fitness Product Blueprint for personal trainers looking to grow their businesses with the use of fitness info products. Elizabethtown, KY (PRWEB) July 26, 2012 Personal trainers looking to grow their fitness business through the use of information products can now take advantage of the Fitness Product Blueprint offered by Fit Business Insider. The product seeks to show ways fitness...

Everyone knows the dismal statistics: 3/5 small businesses fail within 5 years. It’s not that these entrepreneurs don’t have the drive or the passion to succeed. Rather, it’s that they aren’t well-versed on the secrets to success or the common pitfalls that consume so many fitness businesses. Fitness Concepts CEO Sam Bakhtiar and his network of Millionaire Personal Trainers share their wealth of knowledge at http://www.Super-Trainer.com, a new fitness marketing blog designed for...

Where’s the white hot furnace that powers evolution? For Darwin it lay in natural selection. The “Modern Synthesis” relocated it to genetic mutation. In the third of a series of articles published at http://www.takeondarwin.com, Contrarian Evolutionist author Shaun Johnston relocates it once again, to wherever variations in living creatures are created. (PRWEB) July 16, 2012 Modern evolutionary theory is the opposite of what people assumed when they first wondered what made living...