Tag Archives: evolutionary

  Researhers have sequenced the genomes of two living and three extinct rhinoceros species and compared them to existing data from the remaining three living species and a range of outgroups. A paleoartist’s reconstruction of the three extinct species whose genomes were sequenced by Liu et al.: in the foreground …

Paleontologists have described the first three-dimensional preservation of soft tissue in Namacalathus hermanastes, a skeletal metazoan (multicellular animal) that lived some 547 million years ago (Ediacaran period) in what is now Namibia, and established a strong evolutionary link between Ediacaran and early Cambrian metazoans. Namacalathus (individuals numbered). Centimeter scale. Image …

Genetic Researchers Reconstruct Evolutionary In a new study, an international team of scientists used 22 newly-sequenced genomes from 18 extant species of penguins to reconstruct the history of their diversification and adaptation. The authors found that ancient penguins diverged in the early Miocene epoch in Australia and New Zealand and …

Pie charts show the proportion of chromosomes within different populations worldwide that carry a non-working copy of the FLG gene, a primary risk factor for eczema. Even in East Asia, where the rates are high, the scientists found no evidence that preserving this genetic mutation has an evolutionary benefit to …

New research suggests that smallpox may not be an ancient disease but a much more modern killer that went on to become the first human disease eradicated by vaccination. The findings appear today in the journal Current Biology. This transmission electron micrograph depicts a number of variola virions. Image credit: …