Evolution

Madagascar No Longer An Evolutionary Hotspot

Madagascar represents only one percent of the earth's area but is home to about three percent of all animal and plant species on the planet- it has long been known as a hotspot of biodiversity. New research in Proceedings of the Royal Society B sugge ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 10 2013 - 4:30am

The Head Of A Starfish

Sir Archibald Henry Bodkin, KCB (1862–1957) was our British Director of Public Prosecutions from 1920 to 1930.  He particularly took a stand against the publication of what he saw as ‘obscene’ literature. ...

Article - Robert H Olley - Jul 10 2013 - 12:53pm

Girl Power In The Animal Kingdom: Females Can 'Choose' The Sex Of Offspring

An unknown physiologic mechanism of evolutionary biology has been the ability of mammals to manipulate the sex ratios of their offspring as part of a highly adaptive evolutionary strategy. A new paper analyzing 90 years of breeding records from the San Di ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 10 2013 - 8:30pm

A Tuna Is More Like A Seahorse Than A Marlin? That's Science

When is a tuna more like a seahorse than a marlin? Science! The first comprehensive phylogeny of the "spiny-rayed fish," a group that includes about a third of all living vertebrate species, has been published in the Proceedings of the National ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 17 2013 - 10:23am

How To Survive Without Sex, Still Produce 460 Species

Adineta vaga, the delloid rotifer, abandoned sex yet still produced more than 460 species over evolutionary time. Rather than the standard way of using sexual reproduction to weed out harmful mutations to its DNA, this tiny aquatic animal appears to have ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 23 2013 - 9:34am

Male Guppies Have A Unique Date Rape Tool- Genital Claws

Male guppies must not be very sexy, because they have evolved an extreme way to hold on to a female that interests them, even if that affection is unrequited: claws on their genitals to make it more difficult for unreceptive females to get away during mat ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 24 2013 - 9:39am

Thank Evolution For Hot Flashes: Menopause Sets Women Apart From Other Primates

A study of mortality and fertility patterns using seven species of wild primates (apes, monkeys etc.) compared with similar data from hunter-gatherer humans found that menopause sets humans apart from other primates. ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 30 2013 - 10:20am

The Evolution Of Monogamy- No Definitive Answers Any Time Soon

Most mammals aren't monogamous, nor are most anything except birds, where it happens in about 90% of cases.  It's actually quite rare in mammals (5%), so why did it evolve? Was it to be better parents together, to protect offspring from being kil ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Jul 29 2013 - 3:53pm

Can Music Evolve?

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Blog Post - Sarah Harrison - Jul 30 2013 - 9:02pm

The Development Of Social Monogamy In Mammals

Two papers published this week have proposed explanations regarding the evolution of social monogamy among mammals and especially primates.  Of three competing hypothesis, one proposes that a driving force in establishing social monogamy was the protection ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Aug 1 2013 - 1:06am