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Articles on Evolution

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Illustration of the High Arctic camel on Ellesmere Island during the Pliocene warm period, about 3.5 million years ago. The camels lived in a boreal-type forest. The habitat includes larch trees and the depiction is based on records of plant fossils found at nearby fossil deposits. Julius Csotonyi

Fossil suggests giant ancient camels roamed Canada’s Arctic north

Ancient camels up to 29% larger than their modern-day cousins may have roamed the High Arctic of Canada around 3.5 million years ago, according to a new study of a fossil found in the region. The study…
New research suggests that seeds could now be formed without the biological process of fertilisation. CIMMYT

Seeds without sex – some racy findings on the cloning of plants

Sex without seed. Seed without sex. It’s been said that the greatest gift of science to humankind would be achieving those two goals. Effective contraceptives such as the pill have pretty much nailed the…
Claims of mysterious creature sightings dominate cryptozoology – but where is the evidence? Chi-Yun

Cryptozoology? No need for an apology

All forms of science are reliant on facts, hard evidence and statistics to maintain relevance and credibility. But what of the legitimacy of the so-called “pseudosciences”? A warning: I’m going to pick…
New claims for the existence of Bigfoot appear to have been greatly exaggerated. JD Hancock

The bigger the Bigfoot claim, the bigger the need for evidence

Forget blurry pictures and casts of big foot-prints. A Texas veterinarian, Dr Melba Ketchum, and her collaborators have published an article, in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, proving the existence…

Meet your ancestor, the shrew

Placental mammals like elephants, bats and humans evolved from small, insect-eating mammals, a study led by Stony Brook University…
The new study suggests extinction driven by climate instability may be just as important as evolution as a driver of plant biodiversity. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecologyweb

Ice Age flora extinction reveals fresh plant biodiversity clues

Ice Ages caused a mass extinction of plants in south-eastern Australia around a million years ago, according to a new study that presents a fresh take on how extinction shapes biodiversity. Scientists…
It may be some time before we hear the pitter-patter of Neandertal feet. flequi

Women sought for Neandertal surrogacy? Not Yeti, thankfully

In a sort-of Ice Age version of Jurassic Park, Harvard University’s Professor George Church has suggested – to much media coverage – that, one day soon, scientists somewhere will place a very unusual personal…
Sponges and hydra, which are made of colonies of cells with a small number of cell types, have some similarities with cancer. Biodiversity Heritage Library

An astrobiological view of cancer’s evolutionary origin

Life originated on Earth about four billion years ago. Death, sex and multicellularity came along about a billion years later. According to our new atavistic model, cancer came with multicellularity. About…
In order to drag themselves onto land, fish-like creatures needed limbs. Thierrry

They came from the sea: the gene behind limb evolution

In the late Devonian period, roughly 365 million years ago, fish-like creatures started venturing from shallow waters onto land. Among the various adaptations associated with the switch to land life was…
We recognise extreme emotions, but may need more than facial expressions to decode them. How Hwee young/EPA

Are you furious? Body cues tell us more than faces

As social creatures, non-verbal communication through facial expression is important in portraying emotions – and because of this, it’s interpreted rapidly and accurately. Regardless of culture, defined…
The ears on Copiphora gorgonensis, a neotropical katydid from the National Natural Park Gorgona Island, Colombia, work in a similar way to human ears. Image courtesy of Daniel Robert & Fernando Montealegre-Z

Sound familiar? The insect ear that works like your own

The ears on a South American rainforest katydid’s legs work nearly the same way human ears do, a new study has found, showing that animal groups as apparently unrelated as mammals and insects have evolved…
Ants might be a pain … but they play a vital role in maintaining the variety of plant life we see around us. mraandrews

In defence of the humble ant, champion of biodiversity

You’d be hard pressed to find many people who hold ants in high regard. That might be due to their destructive behaviour towards lawns, their ability to infest your house in no time at all, or a willingness…
Opsin genes, one of the building blocks of vision, first emerged roughly 700 million years ago. ~Dezz~

Eye to the past: vision may be older than previously thought

The eye is perhaps one of the best examples of Darwinian evolution. Incremental steps driven by natural selection have led to the evolution of this complex organ from its origin as a simple light-sensitive…

Why monkeys are fascinated with violence

Monkeys who observe fights tend to exploit the losers for grooming favours. This may provide an evolutionary context for…

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