Evolution News and Research

RSS

African Spiny Mice Produce the Same Structures as Armadillos Beneath Their Tail Skin

Mammals are a bit odd when it comes to bones. Rather than the bony plates and scales of crocodiles, turtles, lizards, dinosaurs and fish, mammals long ago traded in their ancestral suit of armor for a layer of insulating hair.

25 May 2023

Key Event that Controls the Timing of the Biological Clock Identified

Molecular clocks in our cells synchronize our bodies with the cycle of night and day, cue us for sleep and waking, and drive daily cycles in virtually every aspect of our physiology. Scientists studying the molecular mechanisms of our biological clocks have now identified a key event that controls the timing of the clock.

23 May 2023

Investigators Characterize and Name the Protein Domain that Governs Collagen Transport

Discovery of the MOTH domain offers insights into evolution. This is because both insects and vertebrates need collagen in their connective tissue.

23 May 2023

Untangling the Effects of Admixture on the Genomes of Modern Humans

The course of human history has been marked by complex patterns of migration, isolation, and admixture, the latter a term that refers to gene flow between individuals from different populations.

22 May 2023

Genetic Study Provides New Insights About One of the Earliest Points in Animal Evolution

A study published by MBARI researchers and their collaborators today in Nature provides new insights about one of the earliest points in animal evolution that happened more than 700 million years ago.

18 May 2023

Study Finds Place of Transcription Start Often Determines the Place of Transcription End

Each gene in the human DNA has a start and an endpoint. It is critical to correctly define the gene's extremities to make functional proteins. Much study has been conducted to identify what determines when, where, and at which place on the DNA a gene “starts.”

16 May 2023

Cell-to-Cell Genetic Module Exchange for Crop Evolution

According to a recent study conducted by researchers at New York University, comparing individual cells from corn, sorghum, and millet indicates discrepancies in these significant cereal crops’ evolutionary history.

From New York University (NYU) 16 May 2023

Seasonal Behavior of SARS-CoV-2 is Genetically Encoded, Study Suggests

As the northern hemisphere heads into summer, we may be in for a COVID-19 reprieve. Not because the pandemic is over; the Omicron subvariant 'Arcturus' is still creeping upward and causing new symptoms.

15 May 2023

Researchers Show a Second Key Gene Involved in Malaria's Resistance to Chloroquine

How malaria parasites evolved to evade a major antimalarial drug has long been thought to involve only one key gene.

12 May 2023

Researchers Reveal the Initiation and Early Stages of Tube Formation in the Sea Star

One of the most basic and crucial embryonic processes to unfold in virtually every living organism is the formation of hollow, tubular structures of various kinds.

10 May 2023

Launching Revvity: A Scientific Solutions Company Powering Innovation from Discovery to Cure

Transformation aimed at revolutionizing next generation scientific breakthroughs that solve the world’s greatest health challenges

From Revvity 9 May 2023

Breakthrough "Gene Silencing" Technology Could Revolutionize the Development of DNAzymes

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have developed a DNA enzyme – or DNAzyme – that can distinguish between two RNA strands inside a cell and cut the disease-associated strand while leaving the healthy strand intact.

9 May 2023

Genetic Material Inherited from Neanderthals Influences the Shape of Our Noses

Humans inherited genetic material from Neanderthals that affects the shape of our noses, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

9 May 2023

New Model for the Evolution of Higher Brain Functions and Behaviors in Insects

Researchers have proposed a new model for the evolution of higher brain functions and behaviors in the Hymenoptera order of insects.

8 May 2023

Understanding How Supernumerary Chromosomes Arise

The majority of chromosomes have existed for millions of years.

5 May 2023

Study Uncovers Cancer-Like Changes in Mitochondrial Disease of Newborns

A study found that a mitochondrial disease of newborns shows cancer-like changes in proliferating cells, causing tissues to age prematurely.

4 May 2023

Researchers Publish a Comprehensive Study of Global COVID-19 Variant Transitions

A team of researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory recently published the most comprehensive study of global COVID-19 variant transitions, which showed significant diversity in variant spread around the globe related to vaccination rates, number of co-circulating variants and immunity from previous infection.

4 May 2023

Study Advances Understanding of the Deep Evolutionary History of Viruses

Researchers have proposed a new evolutionary model for the origin of a kingdom of viruses called Bamfordvirae, suggesting a billion-years evolutionary arms race between two groups within this kingdom and their hosts.

3 May 2023

Texas A&M Research Provides a Definitive Answer to the Evolutionary Timeline of Mammals

Research led by a team of scientists from the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences puts to bed the heated scientific debate regarding the history of mammal diversification as it relates to the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs.

2 May 2023

The Origins of Human Accelerated Regions

Large parts of the human genome were changed over a million years ago due to a random event during egg or sperm formation that resulted in the deletion, duplication, or reversal of sections of DNA. Investigators have demonstrated that those structural variants likely set off a cascade of other fast alterations in human DNA that may underpin unique human traits, particularly the brain.

28 Apr 2023