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evolution

Elderly African man smiling
Famed “Turkana Boy” Discoverer Kamoya Kimeu Dies
Lisa Winter | Aug 19, 2022 | 3 min read
The paleoanthropologist was widely celebrated for his unmatched ability to find and identify fossils.
Woman with buns and blue sweater chewing gum, smiling, and stretching it out of her mouth.
The Energetic Cost of Chewing May Have Shaped Hominin Evolution
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Aug 17, 2022 | 4 min read
The simple act of chewing gum can raise the body’s metabolic rate by as much as 15 percent, a study finds.
Ferns bounced back much faster than other plants after the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Why Did Ferns Persist When All Other Plants Perished?
Amanda Heidt | Aug 15, 2022 | 6 min read
A strange layer in the fossil record contains evidence that fern populations exploded following the mass extinction that ended the Cretaceous period. Scientists want to know why.
Woman and baby chimpanzee face to face, as if they were talking to each other
Could a Less Complex Larynx Have Enabled Speech in Humans?
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Aug 11, 2022 | 4 min read
A paper argues that the evolutionary loss of a thin vocal membrane in the larynx may have facilitated oral communication.  
Artist&rsquo;s rendition of multiple <em>Neisseria gonorrhoeae</em>, the bacteria that causes gonorrhea, depicted as two spheres stuck together, each covered in tendrils.
Gonorrhea-Blocking Mutation Also Protects Against Alzheimer’s: Study
Holly Barker, PhD | Aug 5, 2022 | 4 min read
Research traces the evolution of a gene variant that reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, finding that it originally evolved in response to infectious bacteria.
Close up of ant mandible
Science Snapshot: The Need for Speed
Viviane Callier | Aug 4, 2022 | 1 min read
Understanding the biomechanics of the trap-jaw ant could help humans build better, faster robots.
Male common fruit fly (Drosophila Melanogaster) - about 2 mm long - sitting on a blade of grass with green foliage background
The Sex Appeal of Symmetric Songs
Mary Bates | Aug 1, 2022 | 5 min read
Female fruit flies assess the physical symmetry of male suitors through the songs they sing, a study claims.
A gametophyte of the brown alga <em>Desmarestia dudresnayi</em> that has both male and female reproductive structures
Meet the Algae That Went from Male/Female to Hermaphroditic
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Aug 1, 2022 | 2 min read
A study suggests that several species of brown algae may have independently evolved to express both sexes simultaneously, and it’s likely that female algae evolved male traits—not the other way around.
metallic-looking illustration of coronavirus structure
How the Omicron Subvariant BA.5 Became a Master of Disguise—and What It Means for the Current COVID-19 Surge
Suresh V. Kuchipudi, The Conversation | Jul 26, 2022 | 4 min read
Several mechanisms contribute to the increased transmissibility of this SARS-CoV-2 variant.
Artist’s rendering of an early mammal called a mammaliamorph
Warm-Bloodedness in Mammals May Have Arisen in Late Triassic
Andy Carstens | Jul 21, 2022 | 2 min read
Researchers mapped ear canal shape to body temperature to predict when ancestors of mammals first became endothermic.
Ad&eacute;lie penguin family
Penguins Are Among the World’s Slowest-Evolving Birds: Study
Catherine Offord | Jul 19, 2022 | 2 min read
The findings mean that penguins may struggle to adapt under rapid climate change, researchers say.
Dinosaur Fossil (Tyrannosaurus Rex) Found by Archaeologists
Are We in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction?
Katarina Zimmer | Jul 18, 2022 | 10+ min read
Today’s extinction rates are sky-high. But scientists debate if that’s sufficient evidence to conclude that Earth is undergoing a mass extinction event—or whether that’s even a helpful designation.
Illustration of creatures from today&rsquo;s crisis
Infographic: A Look at the Big Five Mass Extinctions
Katarina Zimmer | Jul 18, 2022 | 4 min read
Extinction is a natural part of life on Earth. But occasionally, extinction rates have surged far beyond usual levels, driving mass extinction events that have reshaped the trajectory of life.
Yves Coppens gives a speech at a lectern
Paleontologist and “Lucy” Codiscoverer Yves Coppens Dies at 87
Lisa Winter | Jul 11, 2022 | 2 min read
Coppens, alongside Donald Johanson and Maurice Taieb, found a 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis fossil in the 1970s.
T. rex-like dinosaur head covered in knobby structures
The Dino That Looked T. Rex-y Long Before T. Rex 
Shawna Williams | Jul 7, 2022 | 2 min read
Fossil findings shed light on a little-known group of Cretaceous-era beasts—and indicate that the combination of a large head and diminutive arms was no evolutionary fluke.
A yellow-orange, translucent artist&#39;s rendition of a yunnanozoan, an ancient wormlike fish, that highlights the arches that make up its cartilage skeleton.
This Simple Fish May Have Been One of the First Vertebrates
Dan Robitzski | Jul 7, 2022 | 5 min read
A fossil analysis suggests that the yunnanozoan, a wormlike fish that flourished around 520 million years ago, sported structures that were the precursors of the head and jaws of modern vertebrates.
scanning electron microscope image of clawlike microscopic organisms on a smoother surface
Phyla of Tiny Filter Feeders Find a New Spot on the Tree of Life
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Jul 6, 2022 | 5 min read
A new study using fairly complete genetic datasets of two phyla of small suspension feeders (Ectoprocta and Entoprocta) reopens the debate on the phylogenetic relationships between them and other animals.
Illustration of a DNA virus sneaking genetic material into a host’s nucleus
Infographic: Possible Mechanisms of Gene Transfer in Eukaryotes
Christie Wilcox, PhD | Jul 5, 2022 | 6 min read
Genetic studies have made it clear that eukaryotic horizontal gene transfer can and does happen. Exactly how, though, remains speculative.
red ants coming out of dirt hole
Bull Ant Venom Evolved to Make Bites More Painful to Mammals
Dan Robitzski | Jul 5, 2022 | 2 min read
A peptide found in bull ant venom closely resembles a hormone of its primary predator, triggering hypersensitivity and making subsequent bites even more painful than the ones that came before.
Cow image
Slideshow: Examples of Eukaryotic Horizontal Gene Transfer
Christie Wilcox, PhD | Jul 5, 2022 | 4 min read
Horizontally transferred genes play significant roles in eukaryotic genomes
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