Frilled sharks haven’t changed for about 80 million years! And while they may look a bit like snakes from a distance, they are actually much more similar to other sharks close up.
Few animals have babies without sex, so biologists assumed asexual reproduction must have evolutionary drawbacks. But a self-cloning Australian grasshopper shows things might be more complicated.
A long-term study of wild animal populations shows each generation is on average almost 20% genetically ‘better’ than their parents at surviving and reproducing.
Live birth has evolved independently more than 150 times. The underlying biophysical processes all look quite similar, but new research shows they use completely different genetic tools.
Birds will shriek and dive at each other over food, territory or mates, but only a small number of species sport actual weapons. The reason: Flying matters more for their survival than fighting.
Hox genes make sure all your body parts grow in the right place. Understanding how they work can reveal the process of evolution and lead to potential treatments for congenital birth defects.
When the coronavirus copies itself, there is a chance its RNA will mutate. But new variants must jump from one host to another, and the more infections there are, the better chance this will happen.
How have snakes evolved venom fangs so many times in their evolutionary history? Research suggests it’s due to a structure called ‘plicidentine’ in their teeth that can evolve into venom grooves.
Evolutionary medicine uses our ancestral history to explain disease prevalence and inform care for conditions like Type 2 diabetes. It also challenges the bio-ethnocentrism of western medicine.
Echolocation evolved multiple times in bats over millions of year. Yet the earliest bat ancestors probably didn’t have this skill — or if they did, it was likely very primitive.
Early humans called Denisovans lived in a remote mountain cave between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, and possibly longer still, raising intriguing questions about their relationship to modern humans.