Evolutionary Biology News

April 30, 2025

Top Headlines

Family First: Scientists Reveal Long-Tailed Tits' Remarkable Family Bonds

Apr. 28, 2025 — Forget fleeting friendships the social secrets of the long-tailed tit has revealed an extraordinary level of family commitment even during migratory journeys. Birds that babysit: scientists reveal long-tailed tits' remarkable family ...

Evolution of Pugs and Persians Converges on Cuteness

Apr. 28, 2025 — Through intensive breeding, humans have pushed breeds such as pug dogs and Persian cats to evolve with very similar skulls and 'smushed' faces, so they're more similar to each other than they are to other dogs or ...

The Oldest Ant Ever Discovered Found Fossilized in Brazil

Apr. 24, 2025 — A 113-million-year-old hell ant that once lived in northeastern Brazil is now the oldest ant specimen known to science, finds a new report. The hell ant, which was preserved in limestone, is a member of Haidomyrmecinae -- an extinct subfamily that ...

What Rattlesnake Venom Can Teach Us About Evolution: New USF Study

Apr. 23, 2025 — A new study found that some rattlesnakes are producing simpler venoms containing fewer and more focused toxin families than complex venoms -- a surprising discovery that challenges long-held ideas about how living alongside a variety of other ...

Latest Headlines

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One Gene Defines the Many Patterns of Snake Skin

Apr. 24, 2025 — In many animals, skin coloration and its patterns play a crucial role in camouflage, communication, or thermoregulation. In the corn snake, some morphs display red, yellow, or pink blotches, and ...

E-I-E-I-Omics: New Discoveries in Corn Genetics Could Help Grow More Productive, Resilient Crops

Apr. 22, 2025 — By analyzing DNA from different cells in nearly 200 lines of maize plants, research has revealed insights that could help growers better adapt their ...

How Do You Like Them Apples? Apple Genus Evolution Revealed

Apr. 22, 2025 — A new comparison and analysis of the genomes of species in the genus Malus, which includes the domesticated apple and its wild relatives, revealed the evolutionary relationships among the species and ...

Evidence of Potential Bed Bug Insecticide Resistance in Gene Mutation

Apr. 22, 2025 — Urban entomologists have discovered a gene mutation that could contribute to bed bug insecticide ...

The Eukaryotic Cell Emerged as an Evolutionary Algorithmic Phase Transition

Apr. 21, 2025 — An international collaboration has published groundbreaking research, shedding light on the most significant increase in complexity in the history of life's evolution on Earth: the origin of the ...

How Activity in Earth's Mantle Led the Ancient Ancestors of Elephants, Giraffes, and Humans Into Asia and Africa

Apr. 21, 2025 — What roils beneath the Earth's surface may feel a world away, but the activity can help forge land masses that dictate ocean circulation, climate ...

Unlocking the Genetic Basis of Adaptive Evolution: Study Reveals Complex Chromosomal Rearrangements in a Stick Insect

Apr. 18, 2025 — Scientists report adaptive divergence in cryptic color pattern is underlain by two distinct, complex chromosomal rearrangements, where millions of ...

Curious Isolation: New Butterfly Species Discovered

Apr. 17, 2025 — A new butterfly species, Satyrium curiosolus, was discovered in a recent study at Blakiston Fan in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. It has unique evolutionary history, having likely remained in ...

Secret to Crocodylian Longevity

Apr. 16, 2025 — Researchers examined teeth and skulls of 99 extinct crocodylomorph species and 20 living crocodylian species to reconstruct their dietary ecology and identify characteristics that helped some groups ...

New Tool for Cutting DNA: Promising Prospects for Biotechnology

Apr. 14, 2025 — A team discovers a new family of enzymes capable of inducing targeted cuts in single-stranded DNA A few years ago, the advent of technology known as CRISPR was a major breakthrough in the scientific ...

Genes in Bacterial Genomes Are Arranged in a Meaningful Order

Apr. 10, 2025 — Bioinformaticians have established that the genes in bacterial genomes are arranged in a meaningful order. They describe that the genes are arranged by function: If they become increasingly important ...

From Bacterial Immunity to Plant Sex

Apr. 9, 2025 — Could it be that one of only three known markers directly targeting the DNA does not exist outside the realm of microbes? Now, researchers have demonstrated that this marker -- N4-methylcytosine ...

Mammoth Genetic Diversity Throughout the Last Million Years

Apr. 9, 2025 — A new genomic study has uncovered long-lost genetic diversity in mammoth lineages spanning over a million years, providing new insights into the evolutionary history of these ...

Six Ape Genomes Sequenced Telomere-to-Telomere

Apr. 9, 2025 — Comprehensive reference genomes have now been assembled for six ape species: siamang (a Southeast Asian gibbon), Sumatran orangutan, Bornean orangutan, gorilla, bonobo and chimpanzee. Areas of their ...

Viral 'Backbone' Underlies Variation in Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness

Apr. 8, 2025 — Researchers have shown that differences in the entire rotavirus genome -- not just its two surface proteins -- affect how well vaccines work, helping to explain why some strains are more likely to ...

Flex Appeal: 'Trade-Off' Between Armor and Efficiency in Sea Turtle Shells

Apr. 8, 2025 — A sea turtle's shell is a masterpiece. A study reveals that marine turtle shells combine flexibility and strength to protect against predators like sharks and stress while optimizing movement. ...

Researchers Reveal Why Young Plants May Be More Vulnerable to Disease

Apr. 4, 2025 — A new study reveals an evolutionary trade-off that young plants face to develop disease ...

Century-Old Clues Reveal Hidden Threat to Australian Songbird

Apr. 4, 2025 — A hidden threat facing one of Australia's most iconic birds has been uncovered in a new study. The critically endangered regent honeyeater once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but their ...

Picky Eaters by Day, Buffet by Night: Butterfly, Moth Diets Sync to Plant Aromas

Apr. 3, 2025 — The scent of blooming flowers and fresh plant life is not just a perk of springtime; it is a key driver in the survival and evolution of butterflies and moths. New research reveals how the daily ...

Machine Learning Helps Construct an Evolutionary Timeline of Bacteria

Apr. 3, 2025 — Scientists have helped to construct a detailed timeline for bacterial evolution, suggesting some bacteria used oxygen long before evolving the ability to produce it through ...

Precision Medicine Could Be Possible in the Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance

Apr. 3, 2025 — Certain antibiotic-resistant infections could be treated with precision medicine in the future, thanks to a new resource mapping plasmids the ultimate vehicle of rapid bacterial ...

An Answer to Green Energy in Hydrogen-Generating Marine Microbes

Apr. 3, 2025 — A genomic study of hydrogen-producing bacteria has revealed entirely new gene clusters capable of producing large volumes of ...

Monkeys Are World's Best Yodellers -- New Research

Apr. 2, 2025 — A new study has found that the world's finest yodellers aren't from Austria or Switzerland, but the rainforests of Latin America. The research provides significant new insights into the ...

How This Tiny Snake Could Change Our View of Genetics

Apr. 2, 2025 — By analyzing the flowerpot snake's unique genome, scientists are uncovering how the tiny reptile repairs its DNA and prevents harmful mutations. The findings provides valuable insights into ...

First Ancient Genomes from the Green Sahara Deciphered

Apr. 2, 2025 — An international team has sequenced the first ancient genomes from the so-called Green Sahara, a period when the largest desert in the world temporarily turned into a humid savanna-like environment. ...

A Borrowed Bacterial Gene Allowed Some Marine Diatoms to Live on a Seaweed Diet

Apr. 1, 2025 — A group of diatom species belonging to the Nitzschia genus, gave up on photosynthesis and now get their carbon straight from their environment, thanks to a bacterial gene picked up by an ancestor, ...

New Warnings of a 'Butterfly Effect' -- In Reverse

Mar. 31, 2025 — A new study warns that global climate change may have a devastating effect on butterflies, turning their species-rich, mountain habitats from refuges into traps. Think of it as the 'butterfly ...

'She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not': Physical Forces Encouraged Evolution of Multicellular Life, Scientists Propose

Mar. 31, 2025 — A study presents a striking example of cooperative organization among cells as a potential force in the evolution of multicellular life. The study is based on the fluid dynamics of cooperative ...

Global Patterns in Seed Plant Distribution Over Millions of Years

Mar. 28, 2025 — Why do some plants thrive in specific regions but not in others? A study explores the factors shaping plant distributions and how these patterns have changed over millions of years. Analyzing nearly ...

Scientists Uncover Key Mechanism in Evolution: Whole-Genome Duplication Drives Long-Term Adaptation

Mar. 26, 2025 — Scientists uncovered how whole-genome duplication emerges and remains stable over thousands of generations of evolution in the ...