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.
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Which genetic test is best: AncestryDNA v 23andMe v National Geographic
Genetic testing companies have proprietary sets of data and various ways of analyzing information, so each one I tried offered ...
World’s first sex robot: She also smiles, tells jokes and quotes Shakespeare
In the brightly lit robotics workshop at Abyss Creations’ factory in San Marcos, California, a life-size humanoid was dangling from a ...
Neanderthals may have lived in California — 130,000 years ago
A startling new report asserts that the first known Americans arrived much, much earlier than scientists thought — more than ...
Plight of the white NFL cornerback: Does African ancestry give black athletes an edge?
Over the past 20 years, only seven white men have played cornerback in a regular-season NFL game.... All 64 starting ...
Natural chefs? Chimps learn to use an oven, sparking debate on how humans learned to cook
If you give a chimp an oven, he or she will learn to cook. That's what scientists concluded from a ...
10 traits we share with ancient Neanderthals
While Neanderthals are long-extinct (and possibly a subspecies of modern humans), archaeology is proving that they had a lot in ...
Epigenetics Around the Web: IFL Science doesn’t f****** understand how humans ‘inherit’ modifications
The popular science site IFL Science whiffs at covering a major study; and can we please stop talking about 'space ...
Disease trade-off: Malaria resistance comes with higher risk for multiple sclerosis, lupus
When it comes to human evolution and survival, fighting off one disease can sometimes mean that a person becomes more ...
Are we alone? If not, why hasn’t anyone dropped by Earth for a visit?
Scientists disagree on the probability that advanced extraterrestrials exist somewhere in the universe. Among the biggest arguments against aliens is ...
Man’s best friend: Evolutionary history of dogs could shed light on cancer, epilepsy in both species
An evolutionary tree of more than 161 dog breeds has been mapped out by geneticists, showing which types are closely ...
The big chill: Evolution heats up when Earth’s climate cools down
While natural selection is a big part of evolution, the theory now embraces much more than that...In a recent investigation, ...
Inheritance of epigenetic modifications observed through 14 generations in roundworms
To a degree, our lineage dictates how our genes are expressed, how we look, age, and live. However, a recent study ...
‘Hobbit’ origins? It’s unlikely that tiny species evolved from ancestor of modern humans
Researchers who studied the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores ...
Two halves better than one: Why our brain evolved to be symmetrical
The human brain evolved to have two halves — and a new review of previous research suggests that this dual ...
Cracking da Vinci’s DNA code: 2 discovered bones open possibilities
Italian researchers say that they have found two “relics” belonging to Leonardo da Vinci, which may help in sourcing the ...
Epigenetics Around the Web: Evolution of instincts — How ‘real’ is behavioral plasticity?
A researcher's decision to broadcast his controversial hypothesis about the evolution of instincts is irresponsible, and a study throws cold ...
I’ll do it tomorrow: Procrastination may have evolved as survival mechanism
If you like to put things off or surf the internet instead of getting work done, you might be able ...
Dad genes: Being a good father may be genetic
[A] team of Harvard researchers has located specific DNA segments that influence paternal behaviors, the closest scientist have come to finding the “dad genes” ...
Status climb with caution: Social mobility may take a toll on our DNA
'Moving on up' is a cherished American value (and important in other societies, too). But there could be a cost ...
Behold the octopus: Problem solver, tool user and now, gene editor
The more we learn about octopuses and squids, the more mysterious they become. The ability to edit their own RNA ...
Ethiopian Jewry: Genetics of the Beta Israel muddied by historical slave ownership
Rarely mentioned by academics is the fact that Ethiopian Jews historically owned slaves. From a genetics perspective, it means this ...
Why humans have larger penises and smaller testicles than other great apes
[While humans have a much longer and wider penis than the other great apes[, human] testicles are rather small...The relative size ...
Dutch, Croatians and other populations with tall men genetically linked to prehistoric mammoth hunters
Men from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Croatia, and Montenegro are, on average, the tallest in the world, according to ...
Searching for Jesus’ DNA: Scientists probe ancient relics
In 2010, Kasimir Popkonstantinov discovered what he believes are the bones of one of the most famous of all saints: ...
How does promiscuity in females impact evolution?
Darwin’s original ideas about sexual selection were based largely on males competing for mates, either by fighting among themselves or ...
Are we ready, without professional help, to decide what to do when our genes tell us we have a potential disorder?
The FDA's decision to allow 23andMe to offer consumers disease screening has triggered a debate over whether the public is ...
DNA test limits: Current direct-to-consumer tests provide only a glimpse into our ancestry
In a recent story that made headlines, a woman’s DNA test showed she was a descendant of a lost tribe ...
