Evolutionary Biology News

March 6, 2025

Top Headlines

When Birds Lose the Ability to Fly, Their Bodies Change Faster Than Their Feathers

Feb. 27, 2025 — Researchers examined dozens of bird species in museum collections looking for differences in the feathers and bodies between birds that can fly and birds that can't. They found that when birds evolve ...

Fish Teeth Show How Ease of Innovation Enables Rapid Evolution

Feb. 26, 2025 — It's not what you do, it's how readily you do it. Rapid evolutionary change might have more to do with how easily a key innovation can be gained or lost rather than with the innovation itself, according to new ...

Comprehensive Resource Describes Functions of More Than 20,000 Human Genes

Feb. 26, 2025 — A comprehensive encyclopedia of the known functions of all protein-coding human genes has just been completed and released. Researchers used large-scale evolutionary modeling to integrate data on human genes with genetic data collected from other ...

Environment Nudges Birds to Fast, or Slow, Life Lane

Feb. 25, 2025 — A study shows birds worldwide make strategic decisions about how they live based on their environmental conditions. Some live fast, die young, and leave as many chicks as possible. Others live long and prosper by not breeding ...

Latest Headlines

updated 6:46pm EST

Some Animals Cooperate With Members of Other Species

Feb. 25, 2025 — Some animals are capable of cooperating with members of other species. An interdisciplinary team explores the cognitive underpinnings of such cross-species collaborations, opening up a new ...

'Smarts' Count: Evolution of Intelligence

Feb. 25, 2025 — The Beatles said it best: Love is all you need. And according to new research, the same may be true in the animal kingdom. Well, at least for mosquitofish -- a matchstick-sized fish endemic to ...

Bigger Animals Get More Cancer, Defying Decades-Old Belief

Feb. 24, 2025 — Bigger animals consistently show higher prevalence of both benign and malignant ...

Scientists Decode DNA of White Oak Tree

Feb. 20, 2025 — Highly valued economically, ecologically and culturally, the white oak (Quercus alba) is a keystone forest species and is one of the most abundant trees across much of eastern North America. It also ...

Near-Complete Skull Discovery Reveals 'Top Apex', Leopard-Sized 'Fearsome' Carnivore

Feb. 17, 2025 — A rare discovery of a nearly complete skull in the Egyptian desert has led scientists to the 'dream' revelation of a new 30-million-year-old species ...

Evolution, Evolution, Evolution: How Evolution Got So Good at Evolving

Feb. 13, 2025 — The field of evolution examines how organisms adapt to their environments over generations, but what about the evolution of evolution ...

Splicing Twins: Unraveling the Secrets of the Minor Spliceosome Complex

Feb. 12, 2025 — Human genes that encode proteins often contain non-coding segments known as introns. Removing introns is crucial for the proper expression of genetic information. Understanding how our cells ...

Birds Have Developed Complex Brains Independently from Mammals

Feb. 13, 2025 — New research has revealed that birds, reptiles, and mammals have developed complex brain circuits independently, despite sharing a common ancestor. These findings challenge the traditional view of ...

Less, but More: A New Evolutionary Scenario Marked by Massive Gene Loss and Expansion

Feb. 10, 2025 — Evolution is traditionally associated with a process of increasing complexity and gaining new genes. However, the explosion of the genomic era shows ...

Potential New Pathway to Fight Viruses

Feb. 7, 2025 — Scientists have identified genetic components in bats that provide insight into their immune ...

Male Flies Sharpened Their Eyesight to Call the Females' Bluff

Feb. 5, 2025 — With bloated bellies and hairy legs, female flies try to look bigger to get food from courting mates. But male flies, in turn, have sharpened their eyesight to call their bluff. A new study suggests ...

Octopuses Have Some of the Oldest Known Sex Chromosomes

Feb. 3, 2025 — Researchers have identified a sex chromosome in the California two-spot octopus. This chromosome has likely been around for 480 million years, since before octopuses split apart from the nautilus on ...

How Tiny Algae Shaped the Evolution of Giant Clams

Jan. 27, 2025 — New research reveals how resident algae altered the genome of these fabled sea creatures, allowing them to access more ...

How Camellias Evolved With the Formation of the Japanese Archipelago?

Jan. 26, 2025 — Japan Sea element plants are generally thought to have evolved from closely related species on the Pacific side. Camellia japonica and Camellia rusticana were also believed to follow this pattern. ...

Study Points to South America -- Not Mexico -- As Birthplace of Irish Potato Famine Pathogen

Jan. 24, 2025 — Researchers firmly point the finger at the South American Andes Mountains as the place where the Irish potato famine pathogen, Phtytophthora infestans, ...

Evolution Without Sex: How Mites Have Survived for Millions of Years

Jan. 24, 2025 — An international research team has discovered various mechanisms in asexual mites that generate genetic diversity and thus ensure ...

The Secret 'Sex Lives' of Bacteria: Study Challenges Old Ideas About How Species Form

Jan. 23, 2025 — New research shows bacteria form distinct species and maintain cohesion through frequent DNA exchange via homologous ...

New Tool Enables Phylogenomic Analyses of Entire Genomes

Jan. 23, 2025 — Electrical engineers have developed a better way to perform the comparative analysis of entire genomes. This approach can be used to study relationships between different species across geological ...

New Twist in Mystery of Dinosaurs' Origin

Jan. 23, 2025 — The remains of the earliest dinosaurs may lie undiscovered in the Amazon and other equatorial regions of South America and Africa, suggests a new ...

Plant's Name-Giving Feature Found to Be New Offspring-Ensuring Method

Jan. 23, 2025 — 130 years after a fungus-eating plant received its name, a researcher has uncovered the purpose of the structure that inspired its name -- revealing a novel mechanism by which plants ensure ...

Streamlining Genetic Analysis for Phylogenetic Studies

Jan. 23, 2025 — A new computational tool improves the analysis of genetic data, making it easier and faster to study the evolutionary relationships between ...

Solving the Evolutionary Puzzle of Polyploidy: How Genome Duplication Shapes Adaptation

Jan. 23, 2025 — Scientists have developed a theoretical model that uncovers the dual role of polyploidy -- organisms carrying extra genome copies -- in evolution. Their findings reveal that polyploidy can stabilize ...

Many Roads Lead To... the Embryo

Jan. 22, 2025 — Is there only one optimal configuration an organism can reach during evolution? Is there a single formula that describes the trajectory towards the optimum? And can we 'derive' it in a ...

Reading the Genome and Understanding Evolution: Symbioses and Gene Transfer in Leaf Beetles

Jan. 17, 2025 — Scientists explored the evolutionary success of leaf beetles, the most diverse herbivores on Earth. They showed that symbioses with bacteria have evolved repeatedly and independently in different ...

Bacterial Survival Genes Uncovered Using Evolutionary Map

Jan. 16, 2025 — Researchers have described how the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus genetically adapts to humans, including mutations that allow some strains to evade the immune system and become resistant to ...

Coyote Genes May Show Urban Evolution at Work

Jan. 15, 2025 — A new study outlines the ways by which city life may be shaping the evolution of urban coyotes, the highly adaptable carnivores spotted in alleyways from Berkeley, Calif., to the Bronx, in New ...

Detecting Hidden Genetic Relationships in Animal Populations

Jan. 15, 2025 — Understanding biological relationships is often critical when studying animal populations. Researchers have now developed a transformative approach that identifies stretches of DNA that two ...

What Makes Some Plant Species 'Ripe' for Domestication

Jan. 14, 2025 — Researchers have proposed that some wild plant species possess certain attributes which make them more suitable for human cultivation than ...

Polygamy Is (Not) for the Birds

Jan. 13, 2025 — Researchers have uncovered new insights into the evolution of bird behavior, revealing why certain mating systems persist while others disappear over ...

Ecologists Reveal Key Genetic Insights for the Conservation of Iconic Cockatoo Species

Jan. 13, 2025 — Ecologists have made valuable discoveries that could transform the conservation of two iconic cockatoo species: the Sulphur-crested cockatoos and the critically endangered Yellow-crested cockatoos -- ...