Many theories have been proposed for the evolution of dark skin pigmentation – and a new paper revives one of the oldest: that skin cancer was a more potent selective force for the evolution of protective…
We have fish to thank for the makeup of our face.
Flickr/Ben Shepherd
Lets face it – without a face no-one would recognise us, nor would we be able to guess what others might be thinking or feeling. Faces and their subtle degrees of symmetry and expression have defined human…
Air-breathing fishes such as Polypterus ornatipinnis laid foundations for modern ears.
Flickr/lapradei
A century-old mystery about how ancient freshwater fishes breathe has finally been put to rest, thanks to a study published today in Nature Communications by me and a team of ichthyologists. The fishes…
Cane Toads have wreaked havoc in Australia. Could we predict the next invasive species?
Flickr/Brian Gratwicke
New research on invasive species has cast doubt on the prevailing theory developed by Charles Darwin, giving us a new way to predict and model species when they are introduced. Invasive animals such as…
I’m more of a cricket man, really.
Ben Birchall/PA
In the field of animal behaviour, there is one topic that is almost guaranteed to get your study in the popular press: showing how an animal behaves just like humans. This can be solving problems, using…
I wouldn’t do that if I were you.
Runs with Scissors
Val Curtis, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
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…
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…
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
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…
Research claiming that men are to blame for menopause has gone viral in the popular media in the past week. But does the theoretical model’s fundamental assumption – that men prefer young women – stack…
Only a handful of mammals aside from us – primates, some bat species and the elephant shrew – get their period.
Image from shutterstock.com
For half the population, it comes three to five days each month, 12 months each year, for 40 years of our lives. Menstruation can be debilitating, relieving, disappointing, or simply an inconvenient fact…
The sexual activity of the southern bottletail squid involves choosy females eating losers’ ejaculate.
Saspotato
In romantic circles, reproduction is viewed as a harmonious venture between the sexes. After all, if you aim to produce the best offspring possible, wouldn’t it also be best to cooperate with your partner…
One suggestion is that menopause enables women to provide for their grandchildren.
Image from shutterstock.com
Menstruation is a reproductive quirk that humans share with only a few other mammals. But even stranger is the fact that women stop menstruating when they have a whole third of their lives left to live…
It turns out guppy genital length is genetic – for females as well as males.
Alice Chaos
It’s not always easy to tell if a fish is male or female: they look more or less the same. But there are exceptions, such as guppies and, as with humans, guppy genitalia varies in size across the species…
In an evolutionary sense, memory of pain serves an important purpose. Pain indicates a threat to our safety or our life, and human survival depends on us avoiding things that are going to kill us. Historically…
How and why have the colour patterns of coral reef fish changed over time?
David Cook
Have you ever wondered why coral reef fishes are so brilliantly coloured and bizarrely patterned? A quick flick through any coral reef fish guide will leave you bewildered and awed. To answer this question…
The discovery of the skeleton of the Homo floresiensis has sparked significant debate among evolutionary scientists.
Ryan Somma
To state the obvious: human evolution is not without its drama – and the latest salvo in the ongoing Hobbit, or Homo floresiensis, battle confirms this yet again. The 2004 announcement of Homo floresiensis…
A female zebra finch finds herself surrounded by male suitors - but who to listen to?
Simon Griffith
A new study has revealed what many people possibly already suspect – males are more honest when displaying their “quality” to a partner than to an unfamiliar female. These findings, from a study of a socially…