A research team has clarified a mechanism of how retrotransposons, genetic elements that can 'jump around' chromosomes and are known drivers of evolution, preferentially insert in the centromere. A ...

The sequencing of the genomes of a spider from the mainland (Dysdera catalonica, left) and one from the Canary Islands (Dysdera tilosensis, right) opens a new perspective for understanding how genome ...

A new Yale study on yeast shows how nongenetic factors are involved in real-time evolution. In the study, published in the journal Cell Reports on Oct. 27, researchers at Yale’s Systems Biology ...

Skeletons of the early horse-relative Eohippus (left) and modern Equus (right). From Animals of the Past by Lucas. During the early 20th century many biologists were considering a variety of ...

Evolutionary biologists have analyzed the role of microRNAs in the evolution of new species. The mechanisms by which new species arise are still not fully understood. What are the evolutionary ...

Monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine play important roles in our cognitive and emotional functions. Their evolutionary origins date back to metazoans, and while the function of ...

Evolution is unfolding in real time within many natural animal populations and researchers are now observing how this influences biodiversity in the field. In a newly published study in Molecular ...

From the slime coating slugs to the saliva in our mouths, many slippery bodily fluids contain mucus. So how did this marvel of biology evolve? In mammals, the answer is many times, and often in a ...