Tag: Evolution

Study reveals true cause of colorful hair on popular East Asian pet mice

How worms snare their hosts

Study by the University of Bonn sheds light on the arms race between parasites and their victims

New information on regulation of sense of smell with the help of nematodes

PIM kinases are enzymes that are evolutionarily well conserved in both humans and nematodes. Led by Dr Päivi Koskinen, a research group from the Department of Biology of the University of Turku in Finland has previously proven that PIM kinases…

New information on regulation of sense of smell with the help of nematodes

The genealogy of important broiler ancestor revealed

A new study examines the historical and genetic origins of the White Plymouth Rock chicken, an important contributor to today’s meat chickens (broilers). Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, The Livestock Conservancy and Virginia Tech in the USA have used…

Filter-feeding pterosaurs were the flamingos of the Late Jurassic

Modern flamingoes employ filter feeding and their feces are, as a result, rich in remains of microscopically-small aquatic prey. Very similar contents are described from more than 150 million year old pterosaur droppings in a recent paper in PeerJ .…

New research predicts stability of mosquito-borne disease prevention

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.–To reduce transmission of dengue to humans, scientists have introduced Wolbachia bacteria to A. aegypti mosquitoes. Now a team of international researchers has found that Wolbachia’s ability to block virus transmission may be maintained by natural selection, alleviating…

To stop mosquito-transmitted illnesses, pay attention to how humans behave: study

Targeting the mosquito population within a defined area is the primary way scientists and public health officials mitigate the spread of diseases caused by viruses like Zika, dengue fever, and West Nile. But researchers have discovered that evaluating how humans…

How the herring adapted to the light environment in the Baltic Sea

The evolutionary process that occurs when a species colonizes a new environment provides an opportunity to explore the mechanisms underlying genetic adaptation, which is essential knowledge for understanding evolution and the maintenance of biodiversity. An international team of scientists, led…

Evolution designed by parasites

August 23, 2019 sarah JonasUncategorized

While analyzing interactions between parasites and hosts, a substantial amount of research has been devoted to studying the methods parasitic organisms use to control host behavior. In “Invisible Designers: Brain Evolution Through the Lens of Parasite Manipulation,” published in the…

Bacterial sex drives evolution of microbes to conquer and colonize the gut

August 22, 2019 sarah JonasUncategorized

pioneer study now published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science – USA, the research te

The composition of fossil insect eyes surprises researchers

Eumelanin – a natural pigment found for instance in human eyes – has, for the first time, been identified in the fossilized compound eyes of 54-million-year-old crane-flies. It was previously assumed that melanic screening pigments did not exist in arthropods.…

Bloodsucker discovered: First North American medicinal leech described in over 40 years

Museum collections reveal the new leech has hidden in plain sight for decades

Early species developed much faster than previously thought, OHIO research shows

Ohio University researcher publishes landmark review of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Even

Genetic redundancy aids competition among bacteria in symbiosis with squid

The molecular mechanism used by many bacteria to kill neighboring cells has redundancy built into its genetic makeup, which could allow for the mechanism to be expressed in different environments. Some strains of luminescent bacteria that compete to colonize the…

WPI biologist’s discovery gives evolution clues and may affect drug interaction research

Worcester, Mass. – August 15, 2019 – A biologist at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has shown that a key biological component in a worm’s communication system can be repurposed to take on a different job, a critical finding about the…

In the shadow of the dinosaurs

A new sphenodontian from Brazil is the oldest record of the group in Gondwana

Monster penguin find in Waipara, New Zealand

Gigantic prehistoric penguin had close Antarctic relative

Males of a feather flock together

Göttingen behavioral scientists tested biological principle on free-living Assamese macaques

HHU researchers research the basic principles of life

Volkswagen Foundation to provide funding of EUR 1.5 million

What a group of bizarre-looking bats can tell us about the evolution of mammals

Bats with skulls and teeth adapted to a wide range of diets are helping scientists understand how major groups of mammals first evolved. ***A video quiz of the bats is available to embed from: https:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=…

AI used to test evolution’s oldest mathematical model

Researchers have used artificial intelligence to make new discoveries, and confirm old ones, about one of nature’s best-known mimics, opening up whole new directions of research in evolutionary biology. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, the University of Essex,…

Rapid evolution: New findings on its molecular mechanisms