|
Home / News / Tags / evolution
|
|
30
More: next 50 >>
Although they look stunningly beautiful, with their long necks stretching over the top of trees, giraffes also posed a difficult challenge for evolution, in terms of making them capable of surviving. What is beautiful about them – the long and thin neck – also comes with a disadvantage, and namely the fac... |
21 November 2009
05:05 GMT |
 |
|
Malaria is one of the conditions that have been completely eradicated in civilized countries, mostly through governmental efforts and investments in vaccination campaigns. But the condition may be on the rise again, as globalization permits more and more people to travel around the world on a daily basis. A new study... |
20 November 2009
13:21 GMT |
|
|
A recent scientific investigation has found that Smilodon fatalis, more commonly known as the sabertoothed tiger, was probably a lot less aggressive than its feline counterpart, the American lion. Both species are long since extinct, but it would appear that popular culture has portrayed their traits disproportionate... |
19 November 2009
04:31 GMT |
|
|
Evolutionary biologists looking into the evolutionary rates and patterns of Adelie penguins have recently determined that the animals appear to be evolving at a much faster pace than previously calculated. In the research, scientists looked at mitochondrial DNA samples collected from penguins currently living in rook... |
18 November 2009
05:52 GMT |
|
|
Over the past two million years or so, we have evolved to the point where we've reached about the maximum possible size of our brains. As anthropologists may argue, our brain capacities may actually be getting smaller, and all for a simple reason – the anatomical difficulties that birthing a large-headed c... |
17 November 2009
06:00 GMT |
|
|
For many years, a large number of scientists have argued that human evolution may have come to a standstill, and even that we may be regressing. These ideas were mostly founded on the lack of observable evidence to support the claim that we were still moving ahead on the evolutionary ladder. More recent data pointed ... |
14 November 2009
03:35 GMT |
|
|
In a recent set of studies, investigators have finally found one of the most important genes in our bodies, the one that determines our ability to formulate and understand speech. The gene, called FOXP2, can be found in all humans, but lacks in chimpanzees, other primates and big apes. It is a transcription factor, w... |
12 November 2009
04:58 GMT |
|
|
Perhaps the most important thing that separates us from other animals is the fact that we are able to use tools proficiently, and to a great extent. One could easily argue that the instruments are what allowed our species to evolve to the point it's at today, alongside fire and speech. These three aspects of hum... |
12 November 2009
03:56 GMT |
|
|
A new scientific idea proposes that the main reason why dinosaurs were so able to endure for millions of years was the fact that most of them were warm-blooded, rather than cold-blooded, as average lizards are. Scientists propose that this trait allowed for them to evolve into the myriad of shapes and sizes that the ... |
11 November 2009
16:31 GMT |
|
|
Australian scientists have made an interesting discovery recently, when they have managed to pinpoint the gene that is mostly responsible for a person having curly or straight hair. The TCHH gene (trichohyalin), which is located on chromosome one, appears to be the determining factor, the science team, from the Queen... |
10 November 2009
10:10 GMT |
|
|
It would appear that ants, besides being some of the most organized and widespread creatures on the face of the planet, are also loyal comrades. In experimental setups, they were found to return after comrades that had been ensnared using an unconventional trap. Those who returned for the prisoner made all possible e... |
9 November 2009
02:21 GMT |
|
|
Until not long ago, researchers thought that they had figured out the roots of life, at least in terms of how organisms produced energy. They argued that the method was purely chemical, in that living things used ATP (adenosine triphospate) to get their supplies. However, only a couple of decades ago, one expert show... |
20 October 2009
09:53 GMT |
|
|
Scientists at the University of California in Davis (UCD) have recently just finished drawing conclusions from their latest study, which dealt with explaining the sources of socially learned behavior, as well as self-sacrifice among strangers. In their investigation, the experts determined that people such as firemen... |
13 October 2009
03:59 GMT |
|
|
A new scientific study has determined that soil-dwelling creatures that inhabited the world some 55 million years ago evolved to be a lot smaller than they had been before, largely due to the increased global temperatures during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). This is among the first studies to investiga... |
7 October 2009
02:46 GMT |
|
|
According to the latest scientific study on the matter, it would appear that the famous Komodo Dragon, which currently lives mostly in Indonesia, first appeared and developed in Australia. Experts believe that the creature then migrated westwards, until it finally reached its current location, where it set up a perma... |
7 October 2009
01:45 GMT |
|
|
Scientific knowledge on how the cetaceans, a group of aquatic mammals including whales, dolphins and porpoises, evolved is fairly scarce. Fossils belonging to the earliest such animals that decided to leave the ground and go into the water are very rare to come by, so the understanding of how these animals evolved ha... |
25 September 2009
09:48 GMT |
|
|
Evolution in a biological context roughly translates into a species' ability to favor the passing on of genes that ensure its survival into the next generation. In order for this to happen, mutations must occur. Mutations generate diversity, but can also have adverse effects on a species, and lead to its extinct... |
24 September 2009
04:50 GMT |
|
|
A Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills review team is currently proposing that references to Neil Armstrong be removed from 5th-grade science books, for reasons known only to it. The main argument that it brings to the table is that the famous astronaut, who is also the first man to have walked on the Moon, is not a ... |
23 September 2009
02:33 GMT |
|
|
As we pointed out earlier, the state of the “war” between microorganisms and humans is getting increasingly worrying for our species. In spite of being more complex in make-up than bacteria – or maybe because of that –, we cannot adapt very fast to their mutations, and our immune systems just ... |
22 September 2009
02:55 GMT |
|
|
Intelligent Design proponents will need a lot of tinkering with logic and reason to get past the new finds made by an international team of researchers, including scientists from the Monash University. The new paper makes a hole right in the middle of ID arguments, which hold that molecular machines inside living cel... |
15 September 2009
17:01 GMT |
|
|
Even when I was but a little boy, I had respect for science. The people in my family have it as well, with them being engineers and doctors and whatnot. They may not have agreed that evolution is the way humans evolved, but they were in doubt on this matter, especially my doctor mother. She believes in God, but canno... |
12 September 2009
05:43 GMT |
|
|
Figuring out the differences between orangutans, chimpanzees and humans is not a complex process in itself. Any person given a photo of the primates, and one of a human, could easily point out at least a few dozen of them. But the mystery of what made us uniquely human after we became separated from primates evolutio... |
2 September 2009
09:02 GMT |
|
|
People are, consciously or unconsciously, influenced a great deal by the music they listen to, be it happy, sad, jumpy, depressive, or mellow. Their response is almost immediate, and researchers have been curious to know exactly where this habit originated from for a long time. However, investigating this proved to b... |
2 September 2009
08:37 GMT |
|
|
Humans come in a variety of colors, from the darkest brown and black to the most translucent white, but evolutionary biologists don't know yet why these hues appeared, between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. Their evolution is relatively short-lived, in that, for the largest part of human history, people were of o... |
2 September 2009
03:50 GMT |
|
|
In most animal species in the world, the differences between members can be quite significant, which is to say that they lack consistency. However, in humans, that is not the case. Of course, exceptions to the rule exist, but, on average, we have the same general size, a fact that scientists have not yet been able to... |
2 September 2009
02:43 GMT |
|
|
The human body is, indeed, one of the most mysterious and best put together constructs in the world, but its amazing complexity and functions must not lead people to believe that it is the work of a higher power. For example, Intelligent Design (ID) proponents have said for a long time that one of their main argument... |
28 August 2009
05:55 GMT |
|
|
Following a ten-year study conducted in the most remote regions of the Himalaya Mountains, scientists finally announced the results this week. According to the official numbers, at least 350 new species were discovered living on the mountain, including plants, insects, fish, mammals, birds and invertebrates. The regi... |
12 August 2009
01:32 GMT |
|
|
Dogs have been an essential part of human life for the last 15,000 years, when the first specimens were domesticated. Anthropologists and historians underline the fact that our evolution would not have been the same were it not for the protection, hunting, and herding abilities that the canines brought to the “... |
4 August 2009
03:41 GMT |
|
|
According to a new study conducted by experts at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), mammals can now be declared the winners of the evolutionary race, outclassing reptiles in the fight for survival. Fish and birds also moved ahead of reptiles, each exhibiting large species diversity, which means that ... |
1 August 2009
02:06 GMT |
|
|
Understanding the evolution of dangerous viral strains is of paramount importance in microbiology, because it offers a better view of how some of the modern-day types, such as the swine flu virus (influenza type A H1N1), came to be from older strains. That is why investigators at the University of Southampton's ... |
24 July 2009
04:37 GMT |
|
|
Psychologists from the University of Leicester, in the United Kingdom, have recently published a work arguing that the trait humans have of waiting their turn when standing in line, for example, may have an evolutionary basis that transcends education and good manners. They have concluded that an “invisible han... |
9 July 2009
21:31 GMT |
|
|
In their analysis of human remains dating back more than 40 millennia ago, researchers have determined that at least one of our ancestors ate fish regularly. The find helps set another piece in the puzzle of human development, and offers a better understanding of the diets that people had long before the first modern... |
8 July 2009
04:30 GMT |
|
|
A species of spiders has recently amazed researchers, when it proved that it could construct a life-size imitation of itself, so as to confuse predators. To their eyes, the thing at the center of the web looks exactly like the spider they are chasing after, but they're in for a disappointment. The actual Cyclosa... |
7 July 2009
04:49 GMT |
|
|
Teachers and university lecturers in the United Kingdom have recently filed a complaint with the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), in which they argued that the wording used in one of the questions on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) tests was misleading to students. The phrase asked ... |
7 July 2009
04:33 GMT |
|
|
Life on Earth did not experience a “booming” start, with countless species appearing at once, but rather gradually, with nature trying and failing several times over before finally coming up with viable organisms. Such was the case with the first creatures who got out of the seas, and attempted to walk on... |
7 July 2009
03:44 GMT |
|
|
According to new anthropological and archaeological studies, it may be that humans, apes and monkeys all originated from an Asian ancestor, rather than an African or a European one. The find comes shortly after the entire world was buzzing less than one month ago, as researchers presented Ida, the fossil that was &ld... |
2 July 2009
03:03 GMT |
|
|
A small and otherwise harmless water snake has learned a neat trick, which ensures that unsuspecting fish commit suicide via snake mouth (and die from it) a large number of times. Coiled up in a specific position, the water snake expects its prey to approach, and then scares it away with a single body move; unfortuna... |
1 July 2009
21:11 GMT |
|
|
The name piranha alone is oftentimes enough to instill fear in the hearts of people, as it evokes those razor-sharp teeth that can tear flesh several times the size of the fish itself from virtually anything that, well, has flesh on it. But researchers studying the animals are not so puzzled by this mystery, as they ... |
30 June 2009
03:58 GMT |
|
|
For quite some time now, evolution experts have believed that animals evolve depending on their environments alone, adapting to the challenges that appear over the years, and becoming best fit to live in certain areas. But a new research comes to prove that other factors are at work in determining the speed at which ... |
26 June 2009
03:33 GMT |
|
|
The reason why people have ridges on their fingers – the formations that create fingerprints when they touch objects – has been a mystery to scientists for a long time, but one of their favored hypotheses was that they improved our grip when we tried to grab things. Now, a new study utterly disproves this... |
12 June 2009
09:43 GMT |
|
|
Lately, with the influence of global warming rising worldwide, animal experts said that the rise in temperatures might catch many species off-guard, as in unable to modify their behavioral patterns fast enough to survive. They also said that this situation would lead to a massive extinction among species, especially ... |
4 June 2009
04:17 GMT |
|
|
Experts at the University of Manchester have made an important breakthrough in studying the origins and evolution of life, when they synthesized the basic elements of ribonucleic acid (RNA), the connecting link between pre-biotic molecules and the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The find is very important because, until... |
14 May 2009
03:56 GMT |
|
|
Naturalists have been finally able to understand one of the most puzzling aspects of species' evolution, namely why rare traits seem to persist in the general population over a long time. According to recent investigations, this happens because the natural predators of those species have the tendency to avoid ca... |
13 May 2009
09:52 GMT |
|
|
Over the years, evolutionary biologists have often wondered about and sought for the missing link that connects land-based animals with the pinniped family, which contains seals, walruses and sea lions. Now, digging in the Canadian Arctic, researchers believe they may have discovered the animal from which the seals e... |
26 April 2009
07:01 GMT |
|
|
Psychologists and evolutionary biologists are currently engaged in endless debates on whether stories are a byproduct of humans' highly social behavior, or if the pieces of literature are what triggered this type of behavior in the first place. Small children listening to bedtime stories grow up identifying them... |
16 April 2009
04:16 GMT |
|
|
The concept of “continuous evolution,” which more and more anthropologists are beginning to rally behind, states that the current stage of our species, Homo sapiens, will not remain the same in the distant future. That is to say, our genes will evolve in such a manner over the next centuries, that a new t... |
14 April 2009
04:53 GMT |
|
|
One of the main questions plaguing evolutionists ever since Darwin wrote his theory is on how cooperative behavior appeared, and how come it doesn't go away from relationships between individuals of the same species. That is to say, the evolution theory holds that only the strong members of each species survive,... |
7 April 2009
09:19 GMT |
|
|
Raising a child is not an easy business, as most parents will tell you. There are demands that need to be met, plus a lot of stress and worries until they grow up to an age when you can be sure they can take care of themselves. Unfortunately, nowadays, not more than half of American families manage to stay together, ... |
4 April 2009
09:01 GMT |
|
|
Studies on the origin of life on Earth seem to point to the fact that the first complex creatures developed around the Equator, hundreds of millions of years ago. As they evolved, their range expanded, and migrations eventually led the animals to all corners of the world. And while they adapted to cooler temperatures... |
3 April 2009
04:33 GMT |
|
|
Following a controversial vote on Thursday, the Texas State Board of Education adopted a new school curriculum that prevented teachers from presenting so-called “weaknesses” of some of the most important scientific theories, especially that of evolution, proposed by Darwin some 150 years ago. Proponents o... |
27 March 2009
05:34 GMT |
|
More: next 50 >> |
|
|
