The Human Dynasty

Further study of the 385m-year-old Attercopus spider has shown that it could not have spun webs as modern spiders do.

(University of Montreal) An evolutionary geneticist from the University of Montreal, together with researchers from the French cities of Lyon and Montpellier, have published a ground-breaking study that characterizes the common ancestor of all life on earth, LUCA (last universal common ancestor). Their findings, presented in a recent issue of Nature, show that the 3.8-billion-year-old organism was not the creature usually imagined.

(University of Minnesota) Fossilized skeletons resembling a mythical ‘hobbit’ creature represent an entirely new species in humanity’s evolutionary chain, according to researchers.

The Muslim world is open to science, says – but beware teaching evolution as the only alternative to religion

An orangutan’s spontaneous whistling is providing scientists at Great Ape Trust of Iowa new insights into the evolution of speech and learning.

(Great Ape Trust of Iowa) An orangutan’s spontaneous whistling is providing scientists at Great Ape Trust of Iowa new insights into the evolution of speech and learning.

New research on 40,000-year-old fossils from the Sima de la Palomas, Spain, shows that they were clearly Neandertals. These “last Neanderthals” were not swept away by modern humans, but they did exhibit some modern human features.
Archaeologist Gertrude Bell was instrumental in creating a pro-British government in Iraq in 1917. BBC News remembers her as the [...]

For years, researchers thought that most of DNA was passive “junk” and knew little about it. However, new findings are peeling back the odd and baffling world of transposons. Now, researchers have just found that natural selection on gene function is driving the evolution of one kind of transposable element called the LTR retrotransposon.

(University of Georgia) For years, researchers thought that most of DNA was passive “junk” and knew little about it. However, new findings are peeling back the odd and baffling world of transposons. Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have just found that natural selection on gene function is driving the evolution of one kind of transposable element called the LTR retrotransposon.

In the search for life beyond Earth, scientists “follow the water” to find places that might be hospitable. However, every home gardener knows that plants need more than water, or even sunshine. They also need fertilizer: a mixture of chemical elements that are the building blocks of the molecules of life. Scientists are now studying how the distribution of these elements on Earth — or beyond — shapes the distribution of life, the state of the environment and the course of evolution.