The observation that males evolve more quickly than females has been around since 19th century biologist Charles Darwin noted the majesty of a peacock’s tail feather in comparison with the plainness of the peahen’s.

No matter the species, males apparently ramp up flashier features and more melodious warbles in an eternal competition to win the best mates, a concept known as sexual selection.

Why males are in evolutionary overdrive even though they have essentially the same genes as females has been a mystery, but an explanation by University of Florida Genetics Institute researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week may shed light on the subject.

A gene has been found in male cichlid fish that evolved to lure female fish so that male cichlids can deposit sperm in the females mouths. A study in BMC Biology reveals that the gene is associated with egg-like markings on the fins of cichlid fishes and uncovers the evolutionary history of these markings, which are central to the success of the fishes' exotic oral mating behavior.

Walter Salzburger, Ingo Braasch and Axel Meyer reared 19 cichlid species at Konstanz University in Germany and identified a gene involved in producing yellow pigment cells in oval spots on the fishes' fins.

Our brain is very good at picking up speech even in a noisy room, an adaptation essential for holding a conversation at a cocktail party, and now we are beginning to understand the neural interactions that underlie this ability.

An international research team reports in BMC Biology how investigations using neuroimaging have revealed that the brain's left hemisphere helps discern the signal from the noise.

In our daily lives, we are exposed to many different sounds from multiple sources at the same time, from traffic noise to background chatter. These noisy signals interact and compete with each other when they are being processed by the brain, a process called simultaneous masking.

The cells which thicken the womb wall during a woman's menstrual cycle contain a newly discovered type of stem cell, and could be used in the treatment of damaged and/or old tissue, according to research published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

Dr Xiaolong Meng of the Bio-Communications Research Institute in Wichita, Kansas, led the research team consisting of scientists from the University of Alberta, University of Western Ontario and Medistem Laboratories (mdsm.ob). The team identified a new type of stem cell that can be reproducibly isolated from menstrual blood collected from healthy female subjects.

Researchers are closer to understanding why humans differ so greatly from chimpanzees in the way they look, behave, think, and fight off disease, despite having genes that are nearly 99% identical.

Innovative research from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research has uncovered potential new explanations for these glaring differences. In comparing brain and heart tissue from humans and chimpanzees, U of T Professor Benjamin Blencowe and his team, including graduate student researcher John Calarco, have discovered significant differences in the way genetic material is spliced to create proteins.

In a petition filed today with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an international coalition of scientists and doctors, including the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights and In Defense of Animals, is seeking to compel the FDA to mandate the use of human-centered rather than animal testing methods when those alternatives exist.

Petition signatories include a plaintiff in a Vioxx lawsuit who refuses to accept the recently proposed settlement with Merck because she is concerned that misleading animal drug testing will continue to put consumers at risk. After taking Vioxx to cope with pain from a shoulder injury, Nancy Tufford was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.