Ancestry & Evolution
The desire to understand our origins is primal. By examining our DNA over successive generations through the evolutionary process of inherited characteristics of human and animal populations–as well as from those species from which humans share a common ancestry–we can decipher our individual and collective past and develop medical innovations for the future.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Sequencing the Golden Eagle genome to help the birds avoid wind turbines
[A]n estimated 70 golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) are killed annually at even a single large wind farm - the Altamont Pass ...
De-masculizing RNA determines sex in silkworms, a new pathway for sex determination in animals
In the silk business, sex is money. Male silkworms weave cocoons with more silk of a higher quality than females ...
On earwax, body odor and culture: A genetic explanation
When I was in college a Korean American friend confided to me that his roommate had an issue. He had ...
From the depths of an underwater cave emerge the genetic origins of Native Americans
A teenage cavegirl, the oldest intact human skeleton in North America, adds further proof that the continent’s first hunter gatherers ...
Species decline? Long term biodiversity study documents new species on rise
The diversity of the world's life forms -- from corals to carnivores -- is under assault. Decades of scientific studies ...
Oldest fossil sperm is huge, poses evolutionary conundrum
Scientists find sperm inside 17-million-year-old shrimp -- but it's not just any sperm. It's longer than the animals that made ...
Rumors of junk DNA’s death greatly exaggerated
A new paper in PLOS Genetics presents a compelling case for why "junk DNA" is still a useful concept, despite ...
Troublesome genetics and race
When some of us left Africa to spread all over the wider world, we began developing small differences in what ...
Mom’s genes and environment affect gender of kids
Families are especially complex: Cause and effect are hard to disentangle in the bubbling cauldron that is a household. There ...
Genetic analysis of polar bears adds species to list of those younger than we thought
Polar bears diverged from brown bears surprisingly recently — within the past 500,000 years, researchers report today in Cell1. Previous ...
Estimates that 10% of fathers are duped about paternity is wrong; Probably more like 1 to 3%
As I have stated before one of the strangest things to me is the ‘urban myth’ among many biologists that ...
On penises and vaginas: Why maleness always wins the headlines
Biology's sexism isn't overt, but researchers and media can't help but propagate the war of the sexes and the importance ...
Artist brings our paleolithic ancestors to life
A smiling 3.2-million-year-old face greets visitors to the anthropology hall of the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico ...
New Tyrannosaurus was smaller, more graceful cousin of T.Rex
We have found a lost cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, and it was a far more graceful creature than its more ...
Atomic mechanism for how DNA-protective telomerase is made may be target for aging therapies
Researchers have taken an atomic level look at the enzyme telomerase - and what they have found may unlock the ...
Are modern Jews descendants of converts from the extinct kingdom of Khazaria or ancient Israel?
Some studies have suggested that most Jews do not trace their ancestry to ancient Israel but are converts--descendants of the ...
Nicholas Wade on race: Genes and evolution trump culture in shaping human differences
No subject is more taboo than race. New York Times science writer Nicholas Wade takes on the nature-nurture debate in ...
Ancient, inert parts of our genomes may be protective
At hundreds of spots in our DNA, there are ancient swaths that have remained puzzlingly unchanged over hundreds of millions ...
Procrastination? Impulsivity? Either way, is it in your genes?
Classic twin-study method used to try and explain procrastination and it's heritability. But what is procrastination? Is it impulsivity? Either ...
400,000 people entered into ancestory genetics database
The test analyzes a person’s genome at over 700,000 marker locations and provides customers with an easy and affordable way ...
Teeth of the very old may provide more easily accessible stem cells than blood
Normally, I wouldn’t post about a report that’s already reverberated through the blogosphere, but the finding of hundreds of mutations ...
Why don’t humans grow into Goliaths?
It’s no secret that a mouse stops growing before it becomes the size of a whale. But the physiological and ...
Neanderthals not extinct from lack of smarts
Scientists have concluded that Neanderthals were not the primitive dimwits they are commonly portrayed to have been. The view of ...
HIV’s slow evolution in humans would not affect vaccine development
Scientists studying the evolution of HIV in North America have found evidence that the virus is slowly adapting over time ...
Mother’s diet during conception may lead to epigenetic consequences and disease
A study following mothers in rural Gambia, where the rainy and dry season make for major seasonal changes in diet ...
Why no treatment for mutation that causes alcohol-digesting enzyme deficiency in Asian populations?
Between the two of us, my roommate and I have the, uhh, digestive problems that are more common in people ...
Effect of large mammal extinction: Humans become preferred vectors
Save the Rhinos! Save the Elephants! Save the humans?! It seems strange to be connecting our own fate to that ...
