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Study finds mutual reinforcement of phenotypic diversity and cooperation

A new model exploring how evolutionary dynamics work in natural selection has found that phenotypic diversity, or an organism's observable traits, co-evolves with contingent cooperation when organisms...

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Biologists identify drug combinations that may be highly effective at...

A landmark report by the World Health Organization in 2014 observed that antibiotic resistance—long thought to be a health threat of the future—had finally become a serious threat to public health...

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Study finds modern hunter-gathers relocate to maximize foraging efficiency

As bumblebees forage for nectar from one flower to the next, at a certain point, they will move to another area once their search for food becomes too inefficient. This behavior, also observed among...

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Researchers develop equation that helps to explain plant growth

It is rare in biology that a single trait can answer questions spanning several fields of research. One such trait is plant biology's "leaf mass per area," a simple measurement calculated by weighing a...

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Power of shared pain triggers extreme self-sacrifice

The extreme self-sacrificial behavior found in suicide bombers and soldiers presents an evolutionary puzzle: how can a trait that calls for an individual to make the ultimate sacrifice, especially in...

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Evolutionary biology professor explains how to 'walk the Tree of Life'

Pop quiz: Are crocodiles more closely related to lizards or to birds? The answer may surprise you. Although traditional taxonomy classifies birds separately, they are actually closely related to...

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No democracy without women's rights: study

Why did the Arab spring fail? Despite a number of revolutions in the Arab world, in the end only Tunisia emerged as a functioning democracy. Results from an interdisciplinary research project at the...

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The dangers of being a saber-toothed cat in Los Angeles 12,000 years ago

Saber-toothed cats that roamed Los Angeles 12,000 years ago had many injuries to their shoulders and backbones that likely occurred when they killed large herbivore prey such as bison and horses, UCLA...

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Urbanisation costs 5 billion years of evolutionary history

All over the globe, the urbanisation of landscapes is increasing. 60% of the land surface which is expected to be urban by 2030 is currently not built on at all. How this will impact on biological...

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Study reveals first recording of cuttlefish fighting over a mate in the wild

On a research dive in 2011 off the Aegean Sea coast of the fishing village Çe?mealt?, Turkey, a lucky pair of graduate students bore accidental witness to a phenomenon scientists have otherwise only...

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Archaeogeneticist pinpoints Indian population origins using today's populace

IN addition to its vast patchwork of languages, cultures and religions, the Indian Subcontinent also harbours huge genetic diversity. Where did its peoples originate? This is an area of huge...

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Ongoing natural selection against damaging genetic mutations in humans

The survival of the human species in the face of high rates of genetic mutations has remained an important problem in evolutionary biology. While mutations provide a source of novelty for the species,...

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'Teaching the controversy' is the best way to defend science, as long as...

The role of science in modern societies is complex. Science-based observations and innovations drive a range of economically important, as well as socially disruptive, technologies. A range of opinion...

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Bee antennae offer links between the evolution of social behavior and...

As bees' social behavior evolved, their complex chemical communication systems evolved in concert, according to a study published online by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Scientists demonstrate adaptation of animal vision in extreme environments

Cell biologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) have discovered animals can adapt their ability to see even with extreme changes in temperature.

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How eggs got their shapes: Adaptations for flight may have driven egg-shape...

The evolution of the amniotic egg—complete with membrane and shell—was key to vertebrates leaving the oceans and colonizing the land and air. Now, 360 million years later, bird eggs come in all shapes...

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Graduate research fellow investigates how fungi and fire enable pine savanna...

For most humans, fire symbolizes destruction and death. Yet nature often adapts to fire and can wield it as a creative force. For example, in the pine savannas of the southeastern U.S., fire acts as a...

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Use of cognitive abilities to care for grandkids may have driven evolution of...

Instead of having more children, a grandmother may pass on her genes more successfully by using her cognitive abilities to directly or indirectly aid her existing children and grandchildren. Such an...

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Animal coloration research: On the threshold of a new era

In the last 20 years, the field of animal coloration research has experienced explosive growth thanks to numerous technological advances, and it now stands on the threshold of a new era.

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Orange is the new green: How orange peels revived a Costa Rican forest

In the mid-1990s, 1,000 truckloads of orange peels and orange pulp were purposefully unloaded onto a barren pasture in a Costa Rican national park. Today, that area is covered in lush, vine-laden forest.

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Epigenetics may explain how Darwin's finches respond to rapid environmental...

Epigenetics may explain how Darwin's finches respond to rapid environmental changes, according to new research published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

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Experiments with bacteria show that genes can fuse together, leading to the...

All organisms must continuously adapt to their environment in order to survive. Such adaptation is brought about by changes in their genetic material. Together with colleagues from New Zealand, Paul...

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Evolutionary biology can help us understand how language works

As a linguist I dread the question, "what do you do?", because when I answer "I'm a linguist" the inevitable follow-up question is: "How many languages do you speak?" That, of course, is not the point....

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It's mathematically impossible to beat aging, scientists say

Aging is a natural part of life, but that hasn't stopped people from embarking on efforts to stop the process.

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Biologists discovered the pathwaysof groups of the lophophore

Scientists from Moscow State University have proved that lophophorates - the invertebrates with special tentacular apparatus - are relatives. Scientists have examined some representatives of one of the...

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Animation meets biology—shedding new light on animal behaviour

Many animals rely on movement to find prey and avoid predators. Movement is also an essential component of the territorial displays of lizards, comprising tail, limb, head and whole-body movements.

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Genetic mutation explains the origin of some human organs

A neutral genetic mutation—a fluke in the evolutionary process that had no apparent biological purpose—that appeared over 700 million years ago in biological evolution could help explain the origin of...

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Mysterious new seafloor species sheds light on early animal evolution

Japanese researchers have discovered a new species of the enigmatic marine worm Xenoturbella, which they have named Xenoturbella japonica, as reported in a new study published in BMC Evolutionary Biology.

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A 508-million-year-old sea predator with a 'jackknife' head

Paleontologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto have entirely revisited a tiny yet exceptionally fierce ancient sea creature called Habelia optata...

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Evolved illusion—blackest black gives bird of paradise an edge

The mating display of the male bird of paradise owes its optical extravagance to a background so black it is the envy of telescope and solar panel engineers, according to a new study published Jan. 9...

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