Depression is common enough -- afflicting one in ten adults in the United States -- that it seems the possibility of depression must be "hard-wired" into our brains. This has led biologists
The domestication of chickens has given rise to rapid and extensive changes in genome function. Scientists have established that the changes are heritable, although they do not affect the DNA structur
Humans aren't the only species that like to get busy with a glass of bubbly. Turns out, the common baker's yeast has indulged in a frenzy of amorous frolicking in the fermentation vats of winemakers f
If you were to discover that a fundamental component of human biology has survived virtually intact for the past 25 million years, you’d be quite confident in saying that it is here to stay.
Not that long ago in a hot spring in Kamchatka, Russia, two groups of genetically indistinguishable microbes decided to part ways. They began evolving into different species – despite the fa
Evolutionary biologists have shed light on the early events leading to photosynthesis, the result of the sequencing of 70 million base pair nuclear genome of the one-celled alga Cyanophora. They consi
Global warming has driven Yosemite's alpine chipmunks to higher ground, prompting a startling decline in the species' genetic diversity, according to a new study. The genetic erosion occurred in the r
The ability to change vocal sounds and develop an accent is potentially far more widespread in mammals than previously believed, according to new research on goats.
Researchers have sequenced the genome of a contagious cancer that is threatening the Tasmanian devil, the world's largest carnivorous marsupial, with extinction. Cataloguing the mutations present in t
Biologists have long been amazed by gecko feet, which allow 5-ounce lizards to produce an adhesive force equivalent to carrying 9 lbs. up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and
Fossil record of graptoloids challenges the theory that immediately after a mass extinction, species develop new physical traits at a rapid pace.
Biologists have found new evidence for why mice, people and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of varieties of genes to make immune-system proteins named MHCs -- even though some of those genes
The love song of an extinct cricket that lived 165 million years ago has been brought back to life by scientists. The song – possibly the most ancient known musical song documented to date &
A biologist who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas has shed light on the interaction between
Evolutionary processes that are seldom observed. He found that the lizards' geneti
Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to new research. The study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has a
Genetic mutations that boost an individual's adaptability have greater chances of getting through to X chromosomes -- at least in chimpanzees, according to new Danish research. An analysis of the gene
Another attractive theory falls foul of the facts. A census of trees in rainforests on three continents has confirmed that competition plays a central role in structuring communities. This contradicts
Researchers have demonstrated how a new virus evolves, shedding light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations.
A new study, using genetic analysis to look for clues about human migration over sixty thousand years ago, suggests that the first modern humans settled in Arabia on their way from the Horn of Africa
Earth is alive, asserts a r
Evolutionary scientific theory of life. The trans-disciplinary theory demonstrates that purportedly inanimate, non-living objects -- for example, planets, water, proteins, a
The iconic, winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx was dressed for flight, an international team of researchers has concluded. The group identified the color of the raven-sized creature's fossilized wing feath
An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus -- revealing significant clues about the evolution of co
People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new article.
Based on a hominid molar, scientists from Germany, Bulgaria and France have documented that great apes survived in Europe in savannah-like landscapes until seven million years ago.
More than 500 million years ago, single-celled organisms on the Earth's surface began forming multicellular clusters that ultimately became plants and animals. Just how that happened is a question tha
Why are the faces of primates so dramatically different from one another? Biologists serving as "
Evolutionary detectives" studied the faces of 129 adult male primates from Central and South
Dozens of giant tortoises of a species believed extinct for 150 years may still be living at a remote location in the Galápagos Islands, a genetic analysis conducted by Yale University rese
Many animals produce alarm calls to predators, and do this more often when kin or mates are present than other audience members. So far, however, there has been no evidence that they take the other gr
A new analysis of two adaptive radiations in the fossil record found that these diversifications proceeded "head first." Head features diversified before body shapes and types. This suggests
Wild chimpanzees monitor the information available to other chimpanzees and inform their ignorant group members of danger.
Climate changes profoundly influenced the rise and fall of six distinct, successive waves of mammal species diversity in North America over the last 65 million years, shows a novel statistical analysi
Evidence of the single-celled ancestors of animals, dating from the interval in the Earth's history just before multicellular animals appeared, has been discovered in 570 million-year-old rocks from S
Scientists studying a unique collection of human skulls have shown that changes to the skull shape thought to have occurred independently through separate
Evolutionary events may have actually precipi
Any multicellular animal poses a special difficulty for the theory of evolution. Most of its cells will die without reproducing, and only a privileged few will pass their genes. Given the incentive fo
New research has revealed how dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Deinonychus used their famous killer claws, leading to a new hypothesis on the evolution of flight in birds.
High-tech medical imaging techniques were recently used to access internal structures of fossil human skulls. Researchers used sophisticated 3-D methods to quantify the shape of the basal brain as ref
The eel-like body and scrawny "limbs" of the African lungfish would appear to make it an unlikely innovator for locomotion. But its improbable walking behavior, newly described, redraws the
Using a new mathematical methodology, researchers have created a scientifically rigorous analogy showing the similarities between the physical structure of spider silk and the sonic structure of a mus
The vast majority of genetic disorders (schizophrenia or breast cancer, for example) have different effects in different people. Moreover, an individual carrying certain mutations can develop a diseas
A new species of horned dinosaur was just announced by an international team of scientists, nearly 100 years after the initial discovery of the fossil. The animal, named Spinops sternbergorum, lived a
Guppies in the wild have evolved over at least half-a-million years -- long enough for the males' coloration to change dramatically. Yet an orange patch on the male has remained remarkably stable. Why
Though paper wasps have brains less than a millionth the size of humans', they have evolved specialized face-learning abilities analogous to the system used by humans, according to researchers.
A common feature of sailboards, aircraft and electronic circuits is that they all contain resins used for their lightness, strength and resistance. However, once cured, these resins can no longer be r
Apple's latest update to its iOS software for iPhones, iPads and other handheld devices is more
Evolutionary than r
Evolutionary, particularly if you're not getting it on the new iPhone 4S, which was r
UC Santa Barbara scientists have devised a new method of growing high-quality graphene, which could revolutionise electronics.
Smart grid taps
Evolutionary concepts for radical change
Researchers have identified a key genetic gear that keeps the circadian clock of plants ticking, a finding that could have broad implications for global agriculture.
A new study suggests that Homo erectus, a precursor to modern humans, was using advanced toolmaking methods in East Africa 1.8 million years ago, at least 300,000 years earlier than previously thought
The green anole lizard is an agile and active creature, and so are elements of its genome. This genomic agility and other new clues have emerged from the full sequencing of the lizard's genome and may
The plant Arabidopsis thaliana is found throughout the entire northern hemisphere. But how does this small, inconspicuous plant deal with all these different extremes of environmental conditions? In o