Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

  1. Archaeology

    Neandertals were a lot like our human ancestors

    From toolmaking to healthcare, new research finds that Neandertals shared many cultural and social similarities with our human ancestors.

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  2. Environment

    Microplastic pollution aids viruses and prolongs their infectivity

    The tiny plastic bits give these germs safe havens. That protection seems to increase as the plastic ages and breaks into ever smaller pieces.

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  3. Fossils

    Let’s learn about pterosaurs

    These ancient flying reptiles were not dinosaurs, but they were close relatives.

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  4. Animals

    Some young fruit flies’ eyeballs literally pop out of their heads

    The first published photo shoot of developing Pelmatops flies shows how their eyes rise on gangly stalks in the first hour of adulthood.

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  5. Animals

    Cougars pushed out by wildfires took more risks around roads

    After an intense burn in 2018 in California, big cats in the region crossed roads more often. That put them at higher risk of becoming roadkill.

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  6. Fossils

    Sprinting reptiles may have been forerunners of soaring pterosaurs

    A new analysis of an old fossil supports the idea that winged pterosaurs evolved from swift and tiny two-legged ancestors.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Should we use a genetic weapon against mosquitoes carrying malaria?

    One gene drive to eliminate malaria seems to work in the lab. Now it’s time to ask local people if they want it released in the wild.

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  8. Animals

    Sea creatures’ fishy scent protects them from deep-sea high pressures  

    TMAO’s water-wrangling ability protects a critter’s critical proteins — including muscle — from crushing under deep ocean pressures.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Examining Neandertal and Denisovan DNA wins a 2022 Nobel Prize

    Svante Pääbo figured out how to examine the genetic material from these hominid ‘cousins’ of modern humans.

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  10. Animals

    Living mysteries: This critter has 38 times more DNA than you do

    The genomes of salamanders are bloated with genetic “parasites.” That extra DNA slows down their lives and strands them in perpetual childhood.

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  11. Fossils

    Bizarre ancient critter has spines but no anus 

    The spiny discovery moves this minion lookalike off a distant limb on the human family tree.

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  12. Earth

    Not one, but two asteroids might have ended the age of dinosaurs 

     A craterlike structure found off the coast of West Africa might have been formed by an asteroid that struck around the time dinosaurs went extinct.

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