Evolutionary

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory identified key differences in gene regulation between tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana plants, which could explain challenges in crop engineering. This breakthrough, revealing how mutations affect plant growth and development, highlights the importance of understanding genetic regulation to enhance predictability and efficiency in agriculture. Credit: SciTechDaily.comPlant genomics has come a long way since Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) helped sequence the first plant…

We were all sad to see Ash Ketchum go, but his still being the Pokémon anime’s 10-year-old main character after 25 years of adventures was a huge part of why the show seemed stuck in the past. Though Ash never really changed all that much, the larger Pokémon franchise did. And while the anime always took cues from the games, it also became very comfortable sticking to its own straightforward formula. Considering how buggy the most recent generation of Pokémon games has been, it might be hard to imagine the anime faring…

A study reveals the rapid evolution of snakes, outpacing lizards, enabled their diversification and ecological success across the globe. By analyzing genetic data and dietary habits, researchers underscore snakes’ unique evolutionary path and ability to specialize in various prey, marking them as a significant evolutionary success story despite the mystery surrounding their adaptive radiation. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.comMore than 100 million years ago, the ancestors of the first snakes were small lizards…

Research on marine snails has demonstrated that significant evolutionary innovations occur gradually through small steps, challenging the notion of dramatic ‘monster’ leaps. This discovery, by elucidating the genetic basis of the snails’ shift from egg-laying to live birth, offers a new perspective on how major evolutionary changes unfold and highlights the importance of incremental progress in the course of evolution.Biologists have found that significant evolutionary transformations occur incrementally rather than…

February 23, 20244min readSnakes saw a burst of adaptation about 128 million years ago that led to them exploding in diversity and evolving up to three times faster than lizardsBy Jack TamisieaAn eyelash pit viper from the New Wold tropics. Credit: Alejandro Arteaga/Khamai FoundationWhen they first evolved from lizards more than 100 million years ago, snakes were ecological bit players slithering around the fringes of ecosystems dominated by dinosaurs. But today there are around 4,000 species of snakes, ranging in size…

GotchaPhoto: Kurit afshen (Shutterstock)Billions of years of evolution has given rise to us, the millions of species that persist on planet Earth today. Some of us are small, some of us are big, and some of us have huge ears, flat tails, compound eyes, or infrared vision. Each of these adaptations has its merits, but only a handful of them can be considered the most fun, in my (totally scientific) opinion.I consider these the 15 most delightful inventions evolution has bestowed on extant species. Please let me know which…

While current diagnostic definitions of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are relatively new, the general condition has been identified by clinicians under a variety of names for centuries. Recent genetic studies have revealed the condition to be highly heritable, meaning the majority of those with the condition have genetically inherited it from their parents.Depending on diagnostic criteria, anywhere from two to 16% of children can be classified as having ADHD. In fact, increasing rates of diagnosis over…

Throughout the early 1800s, the question of whether animals could turn into new species was hotly debated in scientific circles.In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte brought a slew of savants — geologists, engineers, and other scientists – on his unsuccessful attempt to take over Egypt. A collection of mummified animals that the scholars brought back from Egypt seemed to hold the key to the question of species transformation.Naturalists Georges Cuvier and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, colleagues at the French Museum of Natural History,…

As It Happens6:24Great apes get a kick out of 'playfully teasing' each other, study findsWhat do you call it when a chimpanzee offers his buddy a delicious piece of fruit only to pull his hand away at the last second? Or when a bonobo repeatedly pokes, prods and pulls on the hair of an older relative not hard enough to hurt, but just enough to be annoying?It's not quite play, argues anthropologist Erica Cartmill, but it's not quite aggression either. It's "playful teasing." And, according to a new study, it's a very…

An international team has used ancient DNA to study the evolution of the Marek’s Disease Virus, discovering its increased virulence over time and providing insights that could lead to better disease management in poultry. This groundbreaking research emphasizes the value of archaeological findings in understanding and combating viral diseases.A group of scientists from around the world, including geneticists and disease biologists from the University of Oxford and LMU Munich, have utilized ancient DNA to study the…