Ancestry & Evolution
Relationship problems? Genes may be responsible
In a study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, scientists from the University of Queensland claimed to have ...
Financial pressure may force Galápagos conservation organization to close
A 50-year-old conservation organization dedicated to preserving the biodiversity hotspot that inspired Charles Darwin is about to fall off a ...
Translating language in real time relies on interconnectedness of brain’s networks
As the delegate spoke, real-time interpreter Marisa Pinkney had to make sense of a message composed in one language while ...
What researchers have learned about human evolution in 40 years since Lucy discovery
“Feeling really lucky,” Donald Johanson wrote in his diary the morning of 24 November 1974, while staying at a remote ...
Immunorepertoire: New slant on personalized medicine
Antibodies and T cell receptors recognize all of the proteins in our bodies, and thereby provide a record of everything ...
Only birds evolved feathers, but many other species have genes for them, too
Feathers are like eyes or hands. They’re so complex, so impressive in their adaptations, so good at getting a job ...
Neanderthals distinct species from modern humans, new research claims
In an extensive, multi-institution study led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center, researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief ...
How warfare shaped female psychological evolution
Evidence suggests that warfare is an ancient part of human life, dating back to when all humans lived as hunter-gatherers ...
Sedentary lifestyle, not genes, cause childhood obesity
As the waistlines of children in the United States continue to grow, scientists continue to seek causes of the childhood ...
We might be able to clone mammoths, but should we?
I’m a paleobiologist at the Natural History Museum in London, and I live, sleep and dream mammoths. I doubt that ...
Why does your cat love you…sort of? DNA unravels feline mysteries
Domestic cats have a reputation as being "marginally tame and lacking in the servile sycophantic affect of the dog." Added ...
EO Wilson, Richard Dawkins feud fueled more by arrogance than science
Last weekend, renowned evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson was interviewed by BBC Newsnight. In the course of the interview, he ...
Most Jews can trace ancestry to Middle East
Where did the Jews originate? For Bennett Greenspan, the founder and president of Family Tree DNA, there’s little doubt, and ...
Evolution explains infanticide among mammals
In the early 1970s, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, then a graduate student at Harvard, traveled to India to study Hanuman langurs, ...
Humans struggle to identify odors despite acute sense of smell
In most mammals, olfaction is dominant. Smell uses a large portion of their brains, and aroma receptors are encoded by ...
What gave rise to tool use among primates?
Primates use all kinds of tools in the wild to acquire food resources. For example, chimpanzees use stones to crack ...
Profile of a personal genetics company: PHENOMBio
Interest in personal genomics sites that provide insight into the link between your genes and disease proclivities is booming. But ...
Creativity more imitation than innovation
In today’s world, inventors are our heroes and our saviours – the geniuses who keep the world economy surging forward, ...
Cost benefits of cancer screenings get political in the UK
Cancer screening have helped save many of lives, but have shifted the demographics of who gets the disease. Should we ...
EO Wilson, Richard Dawkins renew clash over evolution
The war of words between the biologists EO Wilson and Richard Dawkins has reignited after the Harvard professor described his ...
Newly discovered ancient human skeleton contains lost Neanderthal DNA
Another week, another ancient human genome. We just recently covered the oldest modern human genome yet described. Now, another paper ...
Why do we gain weight or remain slim? Genes, microbes and now genes for microbes
Gaining weight is partly the fault of genes. Gut microbes are involved in obesity too, although that's a complicated and ...
Kevin Folta takes on South Florida Science Centers’ promotion of anti-science GMO ‘nonsense’
Over the past few weeks, the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium of West Palm Beach has been eagerly promoting a Thursday, ...
Should you get a mastectomy when a BRCA mutation is detected?
Before I was scheduled for a double mastectomy at the age of 60, I knew I was infinitely blessed: The ...
Save blight stricken American Chestnut? Crowd funding launches for GMO rescue
Today we are starting something new to get the public engaged in biotechnology solutions to environmental problems through the American ...
Evolutionary origins of genitalia unveiled
When the first animals scrambled out of the water to live on land, they needed limbs and lungs. And something ...
Rationalizing health risks difficult, especially when emotions in play
From Ebola to breast cancer screenings, people have a difficult time understanding where their health risks truly lie. Our emotional ...