http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/origin_of_life/ Research into the origin of life. Learn how certain small molecule interactions may have been responsible for the life itself. You will find scientific theories and findings here. en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:05:01 EDT Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/origin_of_life/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080721112616.htm Human ancestors fought back against an ancient retrovirus with a defense mechanism that our bodies still use today. Evidence of this battle has been preserved in our DNA for millions of years. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080721112616.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080722225339.htm Ice age climate change and ancient flooding -- but not barriers created by rivers -- may have promoted the evolution of new insect species in the Amazon region of South America, a new study suggests. The Amazon basin is home to the richest diversity of life on earth, yet the reasons why this came to be are not well understood. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080722225339.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716085125.htm High-resolution industrial computed tomography was used to scan the Homo Liujiang cranium fossil, and the three-dimensional virtual brain image was reconstructed. The brain morphology of Liujiang is assigned to Late Homo sapiens. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716085125.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717201837.htm "Survival of the fittest" is the catch phrase of evolution by natural selection. While natural selection favors the most fit organisms around, evolutionary biologists have long wondered whether this leads to the best possible organisms in the long run. A team of researchers has developed a new theory, which suggests that life may not always be optimal. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717201837.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717140459.htm Some bacterial cells can swim, morph into new forms and even become dangerously virulent -- all without initial involvement of DNA. Researchers describe how bacteria accomplish this amazing feat in the journal Science -- and in doing so provide a glimpse of what the earliest forms of life on Earth may have looked like. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717140459.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714092622.htm Six-thousand year old bones excavated in Jericho may help a joint Israeli-Palestinian-German research group combat tuberculosis. The bones, which were all excavated between 50 and 70 years ago, will be tested for tuberculosis, leprosy, leishmania and malaria. However, the primary focus will be tuberculosis. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714092622.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080707134402.htm The accepted timeframe for the beginnings of life on Earth is now being questioned, after scientists found a key indicator to the earliest life forms in diamonds from Jack Hills in Western Australia. The 4.2 billion-year-old diamonds found trapped inside the Jack Hills zircon crystals are the oldest-known samples of Earth's carbon. The team's discovery of very high concentrations of carbon 12, or "light carbon" within these crystals is remarkable as it is a feature usually associated with organic life. Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080707134402.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701140658.htm Scientists have found that a complex, highly conserved and extremely important mechanism of controlling genes is over 150 million years old. The findings have provided new insights into the evolution of genomic or parental imprinting and epigenetic regulation in mammals. A failure of these sophisticated processes is associated with many human genetic diseases, psychiatric and autoimmune disorders and aging. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701140658.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701165050.htm What do humans and single-celled choanoflagellates have in common? More than you'd think. New research into the choanoflagellate genome shows these ancient organisms have similar levels of proteins that cells in more complex organisms, including humans, use to communicate with each other. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701165050.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080626141117.htm The largest ever study of bird genetics redraws the avian evolutionary tree, challenges current classifications, alters our understanding of avian evolution, and provides a resource for future studies. Early Bird, centered at the Field Museum, examined DNA from all major living bird groups. Scientists built and analyzed a dataset of more than 32 kilobases of nuclear DNA sequences from 19 locations on the DNA of each of 169 species -- equivalent to a small genome project. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080626141117.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619203301.htm Researchers have determined that there are hundreds of biological differences between the sexes when it comes to gene expression in the cerebral cortex of humans and other primates. These findings indicate that some of these differences arose a very long time ago and have been preserved through evolution. These conserved differences constitute a signature of sex differences in the brain. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619203301.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619142102.htm What makes a human different from a chimp? Researchers have come one important step closer to answering such evolutionary questions correctly. In the current issue of Science they uncover systematic errors in existing methods that compare genetic sequences of different species to learn about their evolutionary relationships. They present a new computational tool that provides accurate insights into the evolution of DNA and protein sequences. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619142102.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619203249.htm Scientists have used Iceland's genealogical database to trace the ancestors of patients suffering from hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy. Analysis shows that the deadly mutation in the cystatin C gene, L68Q, derives from a common ancestor born roughly 18 generations ago, around 1550AD. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619203249.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080615142247.htm If you are curious about Earth's periodic mass extinction events such as the sudden demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, you might consider crashing asteroids and sky-darkening super volcanoes as culprits. But a new study, suggests that it is the ocean, and in particular the epic ebbs and flows of sea level and sediment over the course of geologic time, that is the primary cause of the world's periodic mass extinctions during the past 500 million years. Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080615142247.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080613092514.htm Scientists have confirmed for the first time that an important component of early genetic material which has been found in meteorite fragments is extraterrestrial in origin. The finding suggests that parts of the raw materials to make the first molecules of DNA and RNA may have come from the stars. Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080613092514.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611161038.htm A large genetic study of the extinct woolly mammoth has revealed that the species was not one large homogenous group, as scientists previously had assumed, and that it did not have much genetic diversity. The discovery is particularly interesting because it rules out human hunting as a contributing factor, leaving climate change and disease as the most probable causes of extinction. Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611161038.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080604140959.htm A team of researchers have modeled in the laboratory a primitive cell, or protocell, that is capable of building, copying and containing DNA. Since there are no physical records of what the first primitive cells on Earth looked like, or how they grew and divided, the research team's protocell project offers a useful way to learn about how Earth's earliest cells may have interacted with their environment approximately 3.5 billion years ago. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080604140959.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080602214249.htm A new PLoS Biology article investigates the evolution of genomic imprinting in a specific region of the mammalian genome. The work shows that different regions became imprinted at different times during mammalian evolution. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080602214249.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080529141329.htm The contentious debate about why insects evolved to put the interests of the colony over the individual has been reignited by new research from the University of Leeds, showing that they do so to increase the chances that their genes will be passed on. Fri, 30 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080529141329.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527201804.htm Although "Viking" literally means "pirate," recent research has indicated that the Vikings were also traders to the fishmongers of Europe. Stereotypically, these Norsemen are usually pictured wearing a horned helmet but in a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen, investigated what went under the helmet; the scientists extracted authentic DNA from ancient Viking skeletons, avoiding many of the problems of contamination faced by past researchers. Wed, 28 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527201804.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080523163046.htm Genetic evidence that overturns existing theories about human migration into Island Southeast Asia (covering the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo) taking the timeline back by nearly 10,000 years has been discovered. Mon, 26 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080523163046.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521131541.htm The description of an ancient amphibian that millions of years ago swam in quiet pools and caught mayflies on the surrounding land in Texas has set to rest one of the greatest current controversies in vertebrate evolution. Wed, 21 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521131541.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515205640.htm Computational biologists have for the first time tackled the dilemma of how to study the ancestry of multidomain genes, which encode an important class of proteins called multidomain proteins that are crucial to human health. They found that standard methods for analyzing gene evolution, are critically flawed when applied to multidomain genes, mutations of which often are associated with cancers. Sun, 18 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515205640.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515113308.htm Researchers have sequenced the entire genetic code of 23 strains of Flavivirus, the virus that causes St. Louis encephalitis, to understand its evolutionary history. This study, published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, found that a single mutation made the virus pathogenic to humans and that the North and South American strains divided about 116 years ago. Sun, 18 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515113308.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512105736.htm More than 600 million years of evolution has taken two unlikely distant cousins -- turkeys and scallops -- down very different physical paths from a common ancestor. But researchers have found that a motor protein, myosin 2, remains structurally identical in both creatures. Tue, 13 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512105736.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080506195605.htm An event as simple as the world's first bite may have sparked an ancient "explosion" of life 500 million years ago that led to the rise of the broad groups of animals that are still alive today. A Harvard professor suggests that it was an increase in interactions between species, such as predation, that drove an escalating evolutionary process that led to the development of teeth and claws and the wide variety of characteristics that we see among Earth's animals today. Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080506195605.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507131453.htm The duck-billed platypus: part bird, part reptile, part mammal -- and the genome to prove it. Scientists have decoded the genome of the platypus, showing that the animal's peculiar mix of features is reflected in its DNA. An analysis of the genome can help scientists piece together a more complete picture of the evolution of all mammals, including humans. Wed, 07 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507131453.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm Similarities between half-billion-year-old and recent food webs point to deep principles underpinning the structure of ecological relationships, as shown by researchers from the Santa Fe Institute, Microsoft Research Cambridge and elsewhere. Analyses of food-web data suggest that most, but not all, aspects of the trophic structure of modern ecosystems were in place over a half-billion years ago. Thu, 01 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416110124.htm A mathematical model suggests that the odds of finding new life on other Earth-like planets are low, given the time it has taken for beings such as humans to evolve and the remaining life span of the Earth. Structurally complex and intelligent life evolved late on Earth and it has already been suggested that this process might be governed by a small number of very difficult evolutionary steps. Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416110124.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408112112.htm Archaeologists have reconstructed the history of the evolution of human population and answered questions about history, using DNA extracted from skeleton remains at the Aldaieta necropolis. It is clear that the genetic analysis of skeleton remains, despite the labor-intensive work involved and the problem of authenticity of the results, has provided an essential contribution in the reconstruction of the biological history of human populations. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408112112.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410153648.htm A new study mapping the evolutionary history of animals indicates that Earth's first animal -- a mysterious creature whose characteristics can only be inferred from fossils and studies of living animals -- was probably significantly more complex than previously believed. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410153648.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408085508.htm Evolution has taken another step away from being dismissed as "a theory" in the classroom. A new article documents the automation of evolution: researchers have produced a computer-controlled system that can drive the evolution of improved RNA enzymes -- biological catalysts -- without human input. In the future, this "evolution-machine" could feature in the classroom as well as the lab, allowing students to watch evolution happen in their biology lessons. Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408085508.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080406114742.htm Desert heat, a little water, and meteorite impacts may have been enough to cook up one of the first prerequisites for life: The dominance of "left-handed" amino acids, the building blocks of life on this planet. Our amino acid signature may well have come from outer space. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080406114742.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402145746.htm Birds and bees may do it, but the microscopic animals called bdelloid rotifers seem to get along just fine without sex, thank you. What's more, they have done so over millions of years of evolution, resulting in at least 370 species. These hardy creatures somehow escape the usual drawback of asexuality -- extinction -- and researchers are finding out how. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402145746.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330212514.htm Evolution can lead to greater biological diversity, and particularly to improvements in the functioning of ecosystems. New research shows evolution as a structuring force for ecosystems, and it open new paths to interpreting the relationship between the diversity of living beings and the functioning of ecosystems. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330212514.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331172519.htm Insight into why females of some species undergo menopause while others do not has proven elusive despite an understanding of the biological mechanisms behind the change. However, new research suggests that menopause is an adaptation to minimize reproductive competition between generations of females in the same family unit. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331172519.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331172503.htm Higher organisms do not have a "cost of complexity" -- or slowdown in the evolution of complex traits -- according to a new article in Nature. Biologists have long puzzled over the relationship between evolution of complex traits and the randomness of mutations in genes. Some have proposed that a "cost of complexity" makes it more difficult to evolve a complicated trait by random mutations, because effects of beneficial mutations are diluted. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331172503.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331084134.htm Looking for evidence of life on Mars or other planets? Finding cellulose microfibers would be the next best thing to a close encounter, according to new research. The new research also pushes back the earliest direct evidence of biological material on Earth by about 200 million years. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331084134.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326142229.htm Scientists from around the world have reconstructed changes in Earth's ancient ocean chemistry during a broad sweep of geological time, from about 2.5 to 0.5 billion years ago. They have discovered that a deficiency of oxygen and the heavy metal molybdenum in the ancient deep ocean may have delayed the evolution of animal life on Earth for nearly 2 billion years. Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326142229.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080319104600.htm New research adds to the evidence that chance, rather than natural selection, best explains why the skulls of modern humans and ancient Neanderthals evolved differently. The findings may alter how anthropologists think about human evolution. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080319104600.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080318212430.htm Computing grids have helped scientists shed light on how life on earth may have originated. Deep ocean hydrothermal vents have long been suggested as possible sources of biological molecules such as RNA and DNA but it was unclear how they could survive the high temperatures and pressures that occur round these vents. Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080318212430.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080314110406.htm Meteorite impacts are often associated with huge disasters, mass extinction and why the dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the Earth some 65 million years ago. However, the opposite may also occur -- that new and more varied animal life arises following such a catastrophe, is shown by new research. In prehistoric times, the Earth was hit by a hailstorm of meteorites with a belt of dust that subsequently covered the planet. At this time new and more varied animal life arose. Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080314110406.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080313095623.htm The organic soup that spawned life on Earth may have gotten generous helpings from outer space, according to a new study. Scientists have discovered concentrations of amino acids in two meteorites that are more than 10 times higher than levels previously measured in other similar meteorites. This result suggests that the early solar system was far richer in the organic building blocks of life than scientists had thought, and that fallout from space may have spiked Earth's primordial broth. Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080313095623.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080306202749.htm Transfer RNA is an ancient molecule, central to every task a cell performs and thus essential to all life. A new study indicates that it is also a great historian, preserving some of the earliest and most profound events of the evolutionary past in its structure. Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080306202749.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304113608.htm Biologists examining ecosystems similar to those that existed on Earth more than 3 billion years ago have made a surprising discovery: Viruses that infect bacteria are sometimes parochial and unrelated to relatives in other parts of the globe. It's surprising because bacteria are ubiquitous on Earth, and both they and the viruses that affect them were long believed to be cosmopolitan, having similar genetic histories across the globe. Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304113608.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304191213.htm When most of us think of Ancient Egypt, visions of pyramids and mummies fill our imaginations. For a team of paleontologists interested in fossil mammals, the Fayum district of Egypt summons an even older and equally impressive history that extends much further back in time than the Sphinx. Six new bat species dating to around 35 million years ago, which sheds new light on the early evolution of bats, have just been discovered Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304191213.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080303120343.htm Three-billion year-old zircon microcrystals found in northern Ontario are proving to be a new record of the processes that form continents and their natural resources, including gold and diamonds. Measuring no more than the width of a human hair, the 200-million-year growth span of these ancient microcrystals is longer than any previously discovered. Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080303120343.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228174823.htm An important discovery has been made with respect to the mystery of "handedness" in biomolecules. Researchers have found that some of the possible abiotic precursors to the origin of life on Earth have been shown to carry "handedness" in a larger number than previously thought. Scientists have long known that most compounds in living things exist in mirror-image forms. The two forms are like hands; one is a mirror reflection of the other. They are different, cannot be superimposed, yet identical in their parts. When scientists synthesize these molecules in the laboratory, half of a sample turns out to be "left-handed" and the other half "right-handed." But amino acids, which are the building blocks of terrestrial proteins, are all "left-handed," while the sugars of DNA and RNA are "right-handed." The mystery as to why this is the case, "parallels in many of its queries those that surround the origin of life," one of the researchers said. Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228174823.htm