Evolutionary Biology News
September 17, 2025
Top Headlines
Sep. 15, 2025 — Researchers discovered two new parasitic wasp species living in the U.S., tracing their origins back to Europe and uncovering clues about how they spread. Their arrival raises fresh questions about biodiversity, ecological risks, and the role of ...
Aug. 29, 2025 — Yale scientists discovered that cavefish species independently evolved blindness and depigmentation as they adapted to dark cave environments, with some lineages dating back over 11 million years. This new genetic method not only reveals ancient ...
Aug. 24, 2025 — Ripple bugs’ fan-like legs inspired engineers to build the Rhagobot, a tiny robot with self-morphing fans. By mimicking these insects’ passive, ultra-fast movements, the robot gains speed, control, and endurance without extra ...
Aug. 23, 2025 — A new study reveals that the majority of Earth’s species stem from a few evolutionary explosions, where new traits or habitats sparked rapid diversification. From flowers to birds, these bursts explain most of the planet’s ...
Aug. 18, 2025 — NASA-backed simulations reveal that meltwater from Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier lifts deep-ocean nutrients to the surface, sparking large summer blooms of phytoplankton that feed the Arctic food ...
Aug. 14, 2025 — Over 15 years of fossil excavations in Tanzania and Zambia have revealed a vivid portrait of life before Earth s most devastating mass extinction 252 million years ago. Led by the University of ...
Aug. 9, 2025 — Over 300 million years ago, Illinois teemed with life in tropical swamps and seas, now preserved at the famous Mazon Creek fossil site. Researchers from the University of Missouri and geologist ...
Aug. 8, 2025 — Researchers at Scripps have created T7-ORACLE, a powerful new tool that speeds up evolution, allowing scientists to design and improve proteins thousands of times faster than nature. Using engineered bacteria and a modified viral replication system, ...
Aug. 6, 2025 — A prehistoric predator changed its diet and body size during a major warming event 56 million years ago, revealing how climate change can reshape animal behavior, food chains, and survival ...
Aug. 4, 2025 — Glasswing butterflies may all look alike, but behind their transparent wings hides an evolutionary story full of intrigue. Researchers discovered that while these butterflies appear nearly identical to avoid predators, they produce unique pheromones ...
July 21, 2025 — What scientists once dismissed as junk DNA may actually be some of the most powerful code in our genome. A new international study reveals that ancient viral DNA buried in our genes plays an active role in controlling how other genes are turned on ...
July 21, 2025 — Gene editing may hold the key to rescuing endangered species—not just by preserving them, but by restoring their lost genetic diversity using DNA from museum specimens and related species. Scientists propose a visionary framework that merges ...
Latest Headlines
updated 10:00am EDT
Sep. 15, 2025 — A groundbreaking project is piecing together Leonardo da Vinci’s genetic profile by tracing his lineage across 21 generations and comparing DNA from living descendants with remains in a Da Vinci ...
Sep. 14, 2025 — Sweetpotato, a critical food crop for millions, has finally had its genetic code fully decoded after decades of mystery. Scientists unraveled its extraordinarily complex genome of six chromosome ...
Sep. 13, 2025 — Not all barnacles just sit on rocks and ships. Some invade crabs, growing like a parasitic root system that hijacks their bodies. A mysterious group called y-larvae has baffled scientists for over a ...
Sep. 13, 2025 — Scientists in Tokyo have uncovered “Inocles,” massive strands of extrachromosomal DNA hidden inside bacteria in human mouths. These giants, overlooked by traditional sequencing, could explain how ...
Sep. 11, 2025 — Newly discovered fossils in Ethiopia show that Homo coexisted with Australopithecus 2.6 million years ago, rewriting the timeline of human evolution. Far from a straight line, early human history was ...
Sep. 5, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered microbial DNA preserved in mammoth remains dating back more than one million years, revealing the oldest host-associated microbial DNA ever recovered. By sequencing nearly ...
Sep. 4, 2025 — Scientists uncovered a 310-million-year-old fish fossil with a “tongue bite,” teeth on the roof and floor of its mouth that worked like a second ...
Sep. 4, 2025 — A small tissue fold in fly embryos, once thought purposeless, plays a vital role in stabilizing tissues. Researchers show that it absorbs stress during early development, and its position and timing ...
Aug. 30, 2025 — Spicomellus afer, a newly analyzed Jurassic ankylosaur from Morocco, is overturning scientists’ understanding of dinosaur evolution. Unlike any other known creature, it carried a collar of ...
Aug. 29, 2025 — Scientists have identified a new giant lizard, Bolg amondol, from Utah’s Kaiparowits Formation, named after Tolkien’s goblin prince. Part of the monstersaur lineage, Bolg reveals that multiple ...
Earlier Headlines
Aug. 27, 2025 — Bumble bees aren’t random foragers – they’re master nutritionists. Over an eight-year field study in the Colorado Rockies, scientists uncovered that different bee species strategically balance ...
Aug. 24, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that a gene called MUC19, inherited from Denisovans through ancient interbreeding, may have played a vital role in helping Indigenous ancestors adapt as they migrated into ...
Aug. 20, 2025 — Two independent research teams have unveiled near-complete reference genomes of the central bearded dragon, a reptile with the rare ability to change sex depending on both chromosomes and nest ...
Aug. 13, 2025 — An extraordinary fossil find along Victoria’s Surf Coast has revealed Janjucetus dullardi, a sharp-toothed, dolphin-sized predator that lived 26 million years ago. With large eyes, slicing teeth, ...
Aug. 6, 2025 — Apple snails can fully regrow their eyes, and their genes and eye structures are strikingly similar to humans. Scientists mapped the regeneration process and used CRISPR to identify genes, including ...
Aug. 16, 2025 — Once on the brink during the last ice age, great white sharks made a remarkable recovery globally, but their DNA reveals a baffling story. Classic migration explanations fail, leaving scientists with ...
Aug. 2, 2025 — Long before evolution equipped them with the right teeth, early humans began eating tough grasses and starchy underground plants—foods rich in energy but hard to chew. A new study reveals that this ...
Aug. 1, 2025 — About 9 million years ago, a wild interspecies fling between tomato-like plants and potato relatives in South America gave rise to one of the world’s most important crops: the potato. Scientists ...
Aug. 25, 2025 — A stunning discovery in North Greenland has reclassified strange squid-like fossils, revealing that nectocaridids were not early cephalopods but ancestors of arrow worms. Preserved nervous systems ...
Aug. 14, 2025 — A groundbreaking fossil discovery in the Grand Canyon has unveiled exquisitely preserved soft-bodied animals from the Cambrian period, offering an unprecedented glimpse into early life more than 500 ...
Aug. 9, 2025 — The newly described Mirasaura grauvogeli from the Middle Triassic had a striking feather-like crest, hinting that complex skin appendages arose far earlier than previously believed. Its bird-like ...
July 23, 2025 — What made ribose the sugar of choice for life's code? Scientists at Scripps Research may have cracked a major part of this mystery. Their experiments show that ribose binds more readily and ...
Aug. 25, 2025 — A chance glance at a museum display has led to the first-ever discovery of an ichthyosaur fossil in western Japan, dating back around 220 million years. Initially mistaken for a common bivalve ...
July 8, 2025 — In the remote reaches of Arizona s Petrified Forest National Park, scientists have unearthed North America's oldest known pterosaur a small, gull-sized flier that once soared above Triassic ...
July 7, 2025 — Scientists have decoded the sea spider’s genome for the first time, revealing how its strangely shaped body—with organs in its legs and barely any abdomen—may be tied to a missing gene. The ...
July 3, 2025 — When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, CO₂ ...
July 2, 2025 — Female chimpanzees that forge strong, grooming-rich friendships with other females dramatically boost their infants’ odds of making it past the perilous first year—no kin required. Three decades ...
June 27, 2025 — A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ...
June 25, 2025 — The shift from lizard-like sprawl to upright walking in mammals wasn’t a smooth climb up the evolutionary ladder. Instead, it was a messy saga full of unexpected detours. Using new bone-mapping ...
June 25, 2025 — Leafcutter ants live in highly organized colonies where every ant has a job, and now researchers can flip those jobs like a switch. By manipulating just two neuropeptides, scientists can turn ...
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Wednesday, June 25, 2025
- Mammals Didn't Walk Upright Until Late—here's What Fossils Reveal
- Scientists Reprogram Ant Behavior Using Brain Molecules
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
- Monster Salamander With Powerful Jaws Unearthed in Tennessee Fossil Find
- Rainbow Reefs Revealed: The Secret 112-Million-Year Saga of Glowing Fish
Saturday, June 14, 2025
- Fruit-Eating Mastodons? Ancient Fossils Confirm a Long-Lost Ecological Alliance
- Koalas on the Brink: Precision DNA Test Offers a Lifeline to Australia’s Icons
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
- Tiny Wasp’s Shocking Reproductive Trick May Transform Global Agriculture
- 83% of Earth’s Climate-Critical Fungi Are Still Unknown
Friday, June 6, 2025
Friday, June 27, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
- DNA Floating in the Air Tracks Wildlife, Viruses -- Even Drugs
- Two Plant Species Invent the Same Chemically Complex and Medically Interesting Substance
- Large-Scale Immunity Profiling Grants Insights Into Flu Virus Evolution
Thursday, May 29, 2025
- Long Shot Science Leads to Revised Age for Land-Animal Ancestor
- Leprosy Existed in America Long Before Arrival of Europeans
- Cotton Virus Circulated Undetected for Nearly 20 Years, Study Finds
- Cannabis Pangenome Reveals Potential for Medicinal and Industrial Use
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
- Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk
- Bed Bugs Are Most Likely the First Human Pest, New Research Shows
- New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo
- Genetic Deep Dive Dispels Fear of Hybrid Worm Threat
- Europe's Most Complete Stegosaurian Skull Unearthed in Teruel, Spain
- Timing, Consistency of Activity Linked to Better Fitness
- When the Forest Is No Longer a Home -- Forest Bats Seek Refuge in Settlements
Friday, May 23, 2025
- Mystery of 'very Odd' Elasmosaur Finally Solved: Fiercely Predatory Marine Reptile Is New Species
- Modulation of Antiviral Response in Fungi Via RNA Editing
- Different Phases of Evolution During Ice Age
- Managing Surrogate Species, Providing a Conservation Umbrella for More Species
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- Ancient DNA Used to Map Evolution of Fever-Causing Bacteria
- Scientists Have Figured out How Extinct Giant Ground Sloths Got So Big and Where It All Went Wrong
- 'Selfish' Genes Called Introners Proven to Be a Major Source of Genetic Complexity
- Diversity Is Key to Ecosystem Stability
- Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- Something's Fishy Here
- Yeast Reveals How Species Adapt to a Warmer Climate
- Songbirds' Great Risk Results in Great Genetic Reward
- How Hibiscus Flowers Lost Their Bullseyes
- This Gene Variant Contributed to the Dietary and Physiological Evolution of Modern Humans
- Toothache from Eating Something Cold? Blame These Ancient Fish
- Live View: Stress-Induced Changes in Generations of Cancer Cells
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- On the Origin (and Fate) of Plants That Never Bloom
- Common Diabetes Drug Helps Chickens Lay More Eggs
- Asian Elephants Have Larger Brains Than Their African Relatives
Monday, May 19, 2025
- Capuchin Monkeys Develop Bizarre 'fad' Of Abducting Baby Howlers
- Mice Use Chemical Cues Such as Odors to Sense Social Hierarchy
- Fitness Fight: Native Bees Struggle Against Invasive Honey Bee
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- Human Activity Reduces Plant Diversity Hundreds of Kilometers Away
- Scientists Use Fossils to Assess the Health of Florida's Largest Remaining Seagrass Bed: Surprisingly, It's Doing Well!
- Scientists Track Down Mutation That Makes Orange Cats Orange
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Marsupial Research Reveals How Mammalian Embryos Form
- Artificial Intelligence and Genetics Can Help Farmers Grow Corn With Less Fertilizer
- Fossil Tracks Show Reptiles Appeared on Earth Up to 40 Million Years Earlier
- Australia's Oldest Prehistoric Tree Frog Hops 22 Million Years Back in Time
- UV Light and CT Scans Helped Scientists Unlock Hidden Details in a Beautifully-Preserved Fossil Archaeopteryx
- Genome of Near-Extinct Northern White Rhino Offers Hope for Reviving the Species
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- A Plant You've Never Heard of Can Do What Scientists Once Thought Impossible
- 'Loop'hole: HIV-1 Hijacks Human Immune Cells Using Circular RNAs
Monday, May 12, 2025
- Flamingos Create Water Tornados to Trap Their Prey
- From Prehistoric Resident to Runaway Pet: First Tegu Fossil Found in the U.S.
- Invasive Salmon, Clams and Seaweed Are Next Threats to Biodiversity in Britain
Friday, May 9, 2025
- First Fossil Evidence of Endangered Tropical Tree Discovered
- A More Realistic Look at DNA in Action
- Researchers Map 7,000-Year-Old Genetic Mutation That Protects Against HIV
- New Ancient Fish Species Earliest Known Salmon Ancestor
- Improving Newborn Genetic Screening
- Heart Rhythm Disorder Traced to Bacterium Lurking in Our Gums
Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Mammal's Lifespans Linked to Brain Size and Immune System Function, Says New Study
- Eco-Friendly Aquatic Robot Is Made from Fish Food
- Just 30 Species of Tree Dominate World's Most Diverse Savanna
- AI-Designed DNA Controls Genes in Healthy Mammalian Cells for First Time
- Building Vaccines for Future Versions of a Virus
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
- Biologists Create a One-Stop Shop for World's Most Charismatic Plants, Ferns
- Triassic Fossil Reveals Nature's Best Jaw for Hunting Fast Fish
- Comb Jellies Reveal Ancient Origins of Animal Genome Regulation