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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: evolution

evolution stories: 85 news summaries

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100M-Year-Old DNA Regions Baffle Experts

Mice, humans share mysterious code immune to evolution

Oct 9, 08 3:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - Certain regions of mammalian DNA with no discernible purpose have one perplexing characteristic in common: They have survived, without mutation, for as long as 100 million years, LiveScience reports. Scientists speculate that the areas have some deep purpose, but for now they know only that they are “ultraconserved regions,... More »

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evolution • DNA • Stanford University • mice • genetic mutation • genome • scientific study • genetic engineering

Anglicans Making Nice With Darwin

Church's essay series aims to repair evolutionist's reputation

Sep 15, 08 12:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - When Charles Darwin came out with his theory of evolution by natural selection nearly 150 years ago, the Church of England opposed it. But now, 200 years after the celebrated scientist's birth, the church has launched a website exploring its history with Darwin, and the church's head of public affairs... More »

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evolution • science • Charles Darwin • apology • Church of England • natural selection

Americans Seek Immune Genes in Mates: Study

Nigerians don't marry for DNA diversity, but may not need to

Sep 14, 08 7:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Americans pick mates with different immune genes while Africans prefer the genes they already have, New Scientist reports. A study of 60 couples from Utah and Nigeria showed that the Americans hitched up with partners whose genes recognized pathogens that theirs couldn't. The African marriages, however, appeared to be... More »

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evolution • Nigeria • Utah • genes • human • scientific study • mating • Yoruba

Invasive Species Getting Bad Rap: Scientists

Exotics can cause extinctions, but spur diversity, evolution, too

Sep 9, 08 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Invasive species don’t always spell disaster for native ecosystems and animal life, scientists say after a study of the process and its effects on New Zealand. More than 22,000 non-native plants have been introduced to the islands, the New York Times reports, and only three native species have... More »

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environment • evolution • plants • New Zealand • invasive species

 Octopus Has How Many Legs?
 Guess Again

New research shows denizens of the deep show specialization, and handedness

Aug 14, 08 8:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - Octopuses may not be eight-legged creatures after all, new research suggests. They do indeed have eight limbs, but some function more like arms, AFP reports. It breaks down like this: the front two are the most nimble and armlike, and are used for exploration; the back two are used mostly... More »

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evolution • Europe • scientific study • animal • octopus • tentacle • handedness

OLYMPICS

 Phelps'
 Victory Dance:
 It's Evolutionary

All primates share body language of pride, shame: researchers

Aug 12, 08 10:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - The classic chest-out, arms-outstretched victory dance Olympic champ Michael Phelps performed after Sunday's 4-x-100 relay final is older than humanity, the LA Times reports. The same display of pride is instinctive to all primates, researchers say, and the body language of victory and defeat is rooted in the age-old need... More »

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evolution • Michael Phelps • 2008 Beijing Olympics • athlete • dance • monkey • primates • Olympics

Roots of Speech Found in Humming Fish

All vocalizing creatures share common brain circuit, researchers find

Jul 18, 08 3:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - The songs of birds, the hums and grunts of toadfish, and the lofty speech of humans all use the same ancient brain circuit, despite an evolutionary split 400 million years ago, reports National Geographic. Researchers have discovered that the base of the hindbrain and upper spinal cord is the starting... More »

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evolution • fish • brain • nature • speech • amphibians • animal

Devils Breed Earlier to Stave Off Cancer

Attempt to outlast disease could be evolutionary

Jul 14, 08 8:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - Tasmanian devils are reproducing at a younger age to offset a contagious cancer epidemic, the Daily Telegraph reports. The ill-tempered marsupials, suffering from tumors that cut their lifespan in half, are now breeding at age 1 instead of 2 or 3. "We could be seeing evolution occurring before our... More »

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endangered species • evolution • Australia • breeding • Tasmanian Devil • Tasmania • tumor

OPINION

 Beer: Cause of, and
 Solution to, Civilization 

Americans aren't likely to cut back on the suds—and history tells us why, Will writes

Jul 10, 08 12:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Recently, Investor’s Business Daily had the effrontery to suggest that Americans might cut down on beer “and other non-essential items.” It was a statement that sent Washington Post columnist George F. Will into a frothy rage. Beer is completely essential—without it civilization as we know might... More »

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evolution • alcohol • beer • George Will

 Study Rewrites 
 Birds' Family Tree 

DNA research reveals new information about bird relations

Jun 26, 08 9:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - A five-year study of bird DNA is turning the world of ornithology on its head. The study revealed such drastic new information about the evolution of birds that dozens will need new scientific names, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Notable finds: Falcons are not related to hawks or eagles; hummingbirds—... More »

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evolution • birds • DNA • scientific discoveries • scientific research • Field Museum

Scientists Find Fossil of Most Primitive 4-Legged Creature

Fish-eater likely a product of extinct branch of 4-legged family

Jun 26, 08 2:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Scientists have found a partial skeleton of the world's most primitive four-legged creature— a water-dwelling tetrapod—in Latvia, AP reports. The four-foot-long fish eater resembles a small alligator and likely belongs to an extinct offshoot of the four-legged family tree. The fossil is 365 million years old—predating dinosaurs by... More »

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evolution • fish • scientists • scientific discoveries • Ventastega curonica

Anti-Evolution Groups Change Texas Tactics

Curriculum may allow for Darwin's 'strengths and weaknesses'

Jun 4, 08 2:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - Evolution opponents are adapting. Now that “intelligent design” and “creation science” have failed in court, the new catch phrase, the New York Times reports, is “strengths and weaknesses.” It might seem innocuous, but critics say it’s yet another tactic to undermine the teaching of evolution... More »

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education • evolution • Texas • creationism • intelligent design • Charles Darwin

Here's Why Platypus Look So Goofy

Scientist decode
its DNA, see part mammal, part reptile

May 7, 08 7:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Scientists have decoded the genome of the duck-billed platypus, National Geographic reports, with their findings as interesting as they expected. Research, published in Nature, confirms that the platypus is the earliest living offshoot of mammalian evolution, yet retains many genetic throwbacks to reptilian ancestors thought to have lived 300 million... More »

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evolution • mammals • genome • reptiles • platypus

Darwin's Papers Now Online

Once-private drafts, notes and even recipes of evolutionary scientist are free to public

Apr 17, 08 4:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - A vast collection of the papers of Charles Darwin is now online, providing public access to volumes once restricted to Cambridge scholars, the BBC reports. 20,000 items are available, including the first draft of his seminal book on evolution, travel notes and personal pieces such as family recipes, Reuters... More »

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evolution • science • research • nature • Charles Darwin • biology • natural selection

 Study Links Sex and Gambling 

Financial risk-taking lights up brain's pleasure center

Apr 5, 08 7:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Taking risks with money lights up the same parts of the brain as sexual arousal, a "neuroeconomics" study has found. Men shown sexy pictures gambled more daringly than those shown scary pictures—spiders and snakes—or neutral pictures, reports the AP. The study of 15 heterosexual Stanford students focused... More »

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evolution • gambling • brain • neurology • risky trading • scientific research

Cheating, Corruption Rampant in Ant Society

Secret elite exploits workers with its DNA

Mar 13, 08 12:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - A power-mad elite is secretly rigging the system so their offspring rise to power, LiveScience reports. That’s the situation a team of researchers has discovered in ant society—not exactly the epitome of community collaboration once thought. Until now, it appeared that any properly-fed larvae could hatch into a... More »

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evolution • DNA • ants • nature • animal behavior • larvae • nature vs. nurture • queen ants

Stop Temper Tantrums Like
a Caveman

Smart parents talk to kids like the vicious
little primitives they are

Feb 22, 08 12:28 PM CST
(Newser) - When your kid has a temper tantrum, they’re a lot like a Neanderthal, reports LiveScience. Two-year-olds are still driven by instinct and emotion, explains one pediatrician, not the higher reasoning of mature adults. So don’t try to logic away a tantrum (“But honey you already have that... More »

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evolution • parenting • toddler • Neanderthals • emotion • temper tantrums • Terrible Twos

Florida Schools Must Teach Evolution

But science teachers must present it as theory, not fact

Feb 19, 08 6:18 PM CST
(Newser) - Teachers in Florida's public schools must for the first time teach evolution, but they must present it as a "scientific theory" rather than a fact, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. The state's Board of Education approved the new curriculum standards today. The old ones made no mention of evolution. Religious... More »

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Florida • evolution

Angry Students Block Pope Visit

Profs say appearance would be affront to 'people of science'

Jan 16, 08 4:31 AM CST
(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI has scrapped plans to speak at a prestigious Italian university after unprecedented protests by furious students and professors who accused him of justifying Galileo's trial and "affronting" people of science, the Los Angeles Times reports. The pope once described as "reasonable" the 400-year-old heresy trial... More »

MORE ABOUT:
stem cell research • evolution • Pope Benedict XVI • Catholic Church • science • Italy • Galileo

Evolution Coming to Space Race

Engineers apply natural-selection algorithm to flight paths for spacecraft

Jan 9, 08 2:33 PM CST
(Newser) - Engineers have devised a way of coming up with flight paths for space missions by using the laws of natural selection, Space.com reports. An algorithm called "differential evolution" treats different paths as individual organisms, which then "mutate," and the best solutions survive to the next generation.... More »

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NASA • evolution • space exploration

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