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Articles on Evolution

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Granny, why are your eyes so big? Gustave Dore

As they spread, folktales evolve like biological species

We all know the story: Once upon a time there was a young girl who took a walk through the woods to visit her grandmother, carrying a basket of goodies. When she arrived she found her granny ill in bed…
New research suggests penguins evolved with the Antarctic. Flickr/Martha de Jong Lantink

Was penguin evolution driven by a cooling Antarctic?

Penguins are a remarkable group of flightless birds. We tend to think of them as Antarctic birds, but they actually inhabit an extremely diverse range of habitats from subzero Antarctic coastline to the…
At more than a metre long, this platypus doubles the size of modern platypus. Reconstruction / Illustration by Peter Schouten

Fossil of giant platypus unearthed in Riversleigh

A new study by Rebecca Pian, Mike Archer and Sue Hand, published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, describes the tooth of a new, giant species of extinct platypus. The fossil history of…
Going up the stairs one animals asks another, “I’m a species. Are you too?” elmada

We have ‘species’ thanks to Noah’s Ark

There was no concept of biological species before the late 17th century in natural history. So why did we get a concept of species in the first place? What is “species” needed for? The answer is that the…
Flowers don’t please everyone. nathaninsandiego

Blooming flowers rang the death knell for many mammals

Hummingbird-pollinated flowers evolved perfectly to suit the bird’s bill shape, its colour vision and even its taste buds. This is the beauty of co-evolution, where two species interact so closely that…
O brother, where art thou? bensonkua

Family doesn’t guarantee anything, if you are a sea creature

The often remade song “He Ain’t Heavy… He’s My Brother” probably owes a good deal of its enduring popularity to its depiction of the loving familial bond between two siblings - one aiding the other despite…
I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Runs with Scissors

Disgust stops us from doing things we shouldn’t

If you read about the record-breaking “fatberg” lurking under Kingston recently and reacted the same way as me - “Oh my God - a gob of fat in the London sewers as big as a bus - that’s disgusting!” - you’ll…
Marine life during the Cambrian explosion. A giant Anomalocaris investigates a trilobite, while Opabinia looks on from the right, and the ‘walking cactus’ Diania crawls underneath. Katrina Kenny & Nobumichi Tamura

Evolution’s ‘big bang’ explained (and it’s slower than predicted)

The sudden appearance of a range of modern animals about half a billion years ago, during evolution’s “big bang”, has intrigued and puzzled generations of biologists from Charles Darwin onwards. A new…
Yeah, they messed with my genes. attawayjl

Silk Road trading helped produce the modern horse

The Silk Road snaked across continents for more than a thousand years, shaping civilisations in East and West. Famously trodden by Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan, the trade route brought riches to…

Out-biting the dinosaurs

Researchers from the University of Bristol, The Royal Veterinary College and Duke University have found that ancient crocodile…
Get the knuckle-dragging caveman image out of your head – Neandertals were master toolmakers. marcovdz

Neandertal toolmakers left a leatherworking legacy

Ever since the Neandertal (Homo neanderthalensis) type fossil was discovered in the Neander Valley of Germany in 1856, the species has been variously portrayed as knuckle-dragging cavemen and primitive…
Don’t want to move home? MissTessmacher

Adapt, move, or die: the pressures of global warming

We all know that weather is not the same as climate, but it is surprising how our perceptions of global warming vary according to what we see outside our window. In the UK for example, last year’s washed-out…
Looks like a modern human, but isn’t. Evolution just got more complicated. Erich Ferdinand

Albert and Adam rewrite the story of human origins

The DNA of Albert Perry may change the story of human origins. Perry was an African-American born into slavery in South Carolina. An analysis of the DNA of his descendants produced results that came as…
Debate continues over how dinosaurs did the deed. Miroslav Petrasko (blog.hdrshooter.net)

Big bang theory: how did dinosaurs have sex?

Dinosaurs were the largest animals to ever walk Earth, and they ruled the planet for more than 160 million years. The long-necked Argentinosaurus, with back vertebrae almost two metres high, possibly grew…
We’ve come a long way evolution-wise but vestigial traits from our caveman days are important for the study of human evolution today. Matthew Cieplak

We’re carrying evolution’s excess baggage – so why can’t we let go?

Wisdom teeth, the palmaris longis tendon, ear wiggling: these qualities were desirable millions of years ago, but due to changes in our diet and environment, are slowly disappearing. However, such features…
A reconstruction of a ptyctodontid fish, one of the groups of placoderms studied from which well-preserved muscles were found. John A Long

From bone to brawn: ancient fish show off their muscles

Fossilised soft tissues, such as skin and muscle, are exceptionally hard to come by. When you think the chances of an animal being fossilised is less than one in a million - and these usually have only…
Our ape relatives respond like human toddlers who are denied a treat or feel frightened. Reflexiste

Do chimps and bonobos go ape when risk goes wrong?

Do chimpanzees and bonobos throw tantrums when their decision-making fails to pay off? That’s the question posed in a new PLoS ONE study by Brian Hare of Duke University and Alexandra Rosati of Yale. It…

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