Likely related to our ancestors, ‘Plexus ricei’ was much like a tapeworm or modern flatworm, say UC Riverside researchers Scientists at the University of California, Riverside have discovered a fossil of a newly discovered organism from the “Ediacara Biota” — a group of organisms that occurred in the Ediacaran period of geologic time. Named Plexus […]
Development of cryptic worms provides new insights into molluscan evolution There are still a lot of unanswered questions about mollusks, e.g. snails, slugs and mussels. The research group of Andreas Wanninger, Head of the Department of Integrative Zoology of the University of Vienna, took a detailed look at the development of cryptic worms. The larvae […]
Researchers find how plants respond to the changing environment in geological time Understanding the impact of environmental change on plant traits is an important issue in evolutionary biology. As the only direct evidence of past life, fossils provide important information on the interactions between plants and environmental change. After ten years’ survey, Professor Zhou Zhekun’s […]
In this article, we look at five simple examples which support the Theory of Evolution. The universal genetic code All cells on Earth, from our white blood cells, to simple bacteria, to cells in the leaves of trees, are capable of reading any piece of DNA from any life form on Earth. This is very […]
Researchers discover rare ‘old world’ ape cranium fossil in China A team of scientists from Penn State, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Arizona State University, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, and the Yunnan Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute has announced a new cranium of a fossil ape from Shuitangba, a […]
With new insights into the classical game theory match-up known as the “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” University of Pennsylvania biologists offer a mathematically based explanation for why cooperation and generosity have evolved in nature. Their work builds upon the seminal findings of economist John Nash, who advanced the field of game theory in the 1950s, as well […]
Dinosaurs are often thought of as large, fierce animals, but new research highlights a previously overlooked diversity of small dinosaurs. In the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, a team of paleontologists from the University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and University of Calgary have described a new dinosaur, the smallest plant-eating dinosaur […]
KANSAS CITY, MO—There’s a new actor on the embryology stage: the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Its career is being launched in part by Stowers Institute for Medical Research Associate Investigator Matt Gibson, Ph.D., who is giving it equal billing with what has been his laboratory’s leading player, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Gibson’s lab investigates the […]
Exceptionally well-preserved fossil feathers enable researchers to reconstruct wing shape in ways not possible with bones alone. Durham, NC — A tiny bird fossil discovered in Wyoming offers clues to the precursors of swift and hummingbird wings. The fossil is unusual in having exceptionally well-preserved feathers, which allowed the researchers to reconstruct the size and […]
100 uses for Muesli 