Evolution

The Extended Phenotype- How Richard Dawkins Got It Wrong Twice

       “The Extended Phenotype – The Long Reach of the Gene” is the book Richard Dawkins wants you to read “if you read nothing else of mine” because “It is probably the finest thing I shall ever write.” It purports to be about science, for scientists, ye ...

Article - Steve Davis - Feb 25 2013 - 8:10pm

In An Evolutionary Pinch, Big Mutations May Be Helpful

Show Me The Science Month Day 15 What happens when a big chunk of your genome is accidentally copied? Bad things could obviously happen when when sudden and dramatic changes are made to your genome (which is why we wear sunblock on the beach and lead shie ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 17 2009 - 11:12pm

Jerry Coyne And Extended Evolutionary Synthesis

I guess it was only a matter of time before my colleague Jerry Coyne at the University of Chicago lost his patience while reading one of several pieces that appeared in the press about the current and future status of evolutionary theory. ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Feb 19 2009 - 12:35pm

The Genetic Mystery Of Black Wolves

Show Me The Science Month Day 16 Black wolves look like creatures out of frightening fairy tales, but their black color actually came from pet dogs. Today's evolution paper is about a potentially beneficial mutation for black coat color picked up by ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 18 2009 - 9:13am

Ancient Cellular Machinery Pumps Out Signals For Wandering Fly Cells

Show Me The Science Month Day 17 Often when something new crops up in evolutionary history, it's usually the result of tinkering with functional, preexisting molecular tools.. In a paper published in Science, some NYU researchers find that the protei ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 18 2009 - 10:48pm

How Single-Cell Organisms Evolve Into Multicellular Ones

Show Me The Science Month Day 18 The transition from one-celled microbes to multicellularity was a huge step in the evolution of life on this planet, but as daunting as this evolutionary step seems, it didn't happen just once. Today's plants, fu ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 20 2009 - 4:44pm

The Evolution Of Teeth

Show Me The Science Month Day 19 Some fish have two sets of teeth: oral teeth, set towards the front of the mouth (like ours), and so-called pharyngeal teeth, set far back in in the throat in a strange, second set of jaws. Based on what we learn from the ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 22 2009 - 12:58pm

Neandertals 2.0

The commercials featuring the Geico caveman made it seem as if a Neandertal (also neanderthal) could readily interact within a Homo sapiens society.... we may soon find out if that is true. Recently, scientists at the Max Plank Institute of Evolutionary An ...

Article - Michael Windelspecht - Feb 22 2009 - 6:13pm

Evolution Of A Possible Cancer Fighting Tool In Blind Mole Rats

Show Me The Science Month Day 20 Tumor cells wield the enzyme heparanase like a machete to cut a swath through the dense forest of carbohydrates that make up the sticky matrix that helps hold communities of cells into tissues. Aggressive, metastatic tumor ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 23 2009 - 3:51pm

Evolution Of Fruit Preference In Fruit Flies

Show Me The Science Month Day 21 Why do certain species of fruit flies prefer some fruits over others? Two biologists have looked at the genetic basis behind the evolution of fruit preference, in a paper in this month's issue of Genetics (an incredib ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 26 2009 - 4:57pm