Evolution

Stop The 19th Century Myths: Your Sense Of Smell Is As Good As Your Dog's

We are at the top of the food chain, but some of our senses got short shrift when it came to other animals. Dogs can hear at frequencies we can't, mantis shrimp got 16 visual pigments and we are stuck with just 3.5, and don't even get other anima ...

Article - News Staff - May 12 2017 - 10:33am

Torrejonia: Early Primates Were Tree Dwellers

The oldest-known primate skeleton, 62-million-years-old, dwelled in treetops, not on the ground, according to a new analysis. The study shows that Torrejonia, a small mammal from an extinct group of primates called plesiadapiforms, had skeletal features ad ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 1 2017 - 4:57pm

Yes! To Hell With Out Of Africa

Ah, life is good lately; can’t stop winning. Almost never recommend anybody, ‘cuz humans disappoint, but if I do, its winners. Remember that “ Erectus walks among us ” guy with his “ Out of Europe ” theory? Yep – that’s the one I recommended, the most desp ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Jun 12 2017 - 8:01am

Tardigrade, The World's Most Indestructible Species- What Would It Take To Make Them Extinct?

It won't matter if all the ice melts and seas rise 100 feet, even if frogs rain from the skies and dogs and cats are living together, one species will be around until the sun explodes. That species is the eight-legged micro-animal tardigrade, the worl ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 14 2017 - 12:12pm

Genetic Quality Of Fathers Influences Gender Of Offspring

In determining the gender of offspring, fathers may be getting shortchanged. Because mothers can influence their offspring in a number of ways, from copulation to birth, while fathers have control over sperm only, it has long been assumed mothers are more ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2017 - 3:41pm

Tapanuli: A Third Orangutan Species Exists

Move over, Bornean and the Sumatran orangutans. Scholars have identified a third orangutan species, the Tapanuli orangutan, that sits alongside the Pongo abelii, living on the island of Sumatra, and the Pongo pygmeaeus, endemic to Borneo, on the evolutiona ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 2 2017 - 2:55pm

Why Aren't More Of You A Lefty?

In graduate school, I earned beer money by modeling for life drawing classes in various art departments. (Don’t judge, grad school doesn’t pay well and beer isn’t free.) In the long hours standing around, I would survey the room and count how many of the ...

Article - The Conversation - Jan 27 2018 - 7:00am

Interstitium: Newfound 'Organ' Missed Due To Old Standard Method For Visualizing Anatomy

How do you miss an organ important for the function of all organs, most tissues and the mechanisms of most major diseases? Easy, you don't look for it.  ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 27 2018 - 6:47pm

Born Capitalist? Even Before First Grade Kids Understand You Get What You Pay For

From a young age, children have a nuanced understanding of how free markets work. A new study in Child Development indicates that children as young as five incorporate market concerns—the idea that what you get is in line with what you give or offer—into t ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 21 2018 - 5:40am

Why The Young Get More Infections Than Adults- Evolution

It isn't just human adults who regard youth as disease factories, in many species the young are often more susceptible to infection than adults, even after accounting for prior exposure to infection. Evolution has an explanation for that. But like a l ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 20 2018 - 6:00am