Scientists “evolve a fungus” claims Science (AAAS) News 4 June 2021, and Scientific Reports 19 May 2021 doi:10.1038/s41598-021-89811-2. Researchers looking for a method of biological control of the Verroa mite, which has devastated honeybee colonies, have found a fungus that attacks and kills the mites. However, the fungus grows poorly in the warm temperatures of […]
Snakes adapted fangs to food, according to articles in The Conversation 13 May 2021 and Monash University Lens 21 May 2021 and Evolution 27 April 2021 doi: 10.1111/evo.14239. Scientists at Monash University, Australia, have studied the fangs of 81 species of snakes, comparing tooth structure, strength and sharpness with the type of prey each snake […]
‘Shocking!’ They are not evolving! according to reports in Bigelow News and ScienceDaily 8 April 2021, Science Alert 9 April 2021, and The ISME Journal, 6 April 2021; doi: 10.1038/s41396-021-00965-3. Originally found deep in a South African mine, a bacterium named Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator was found to survive on a diet of chemicals produced from radioactivity […]
Photosynthesis “old as life”, according to articles in Imperial College London News 16 March 2021 and ScienceDaily 24 March 2021, and Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Bioenergetics, published online 19 February 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2021.148400. The oxygen producing process of photosynthesis in green plants, algae and cyanobacteria begins with water molecules being split by an […]
Fish fins forming limbs found, according to articles in BBC Science Focus and ScienceDaily 4 February 2021 and Cell 4 February 2021 doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.01.003. Scientists at Harvard and Boston Children’s Hospital have found mutations of two genes that result in the formation of extra bones in the pectoral (front) fins of zebrafish. Zebrafish are ray-finned […]
Vampire finches evolve, claim scientists and David Attenborough, according to articles in Science Alert 16 January 2021, Smithsonian News 22 January 2021 and The Conversation 15 January 2021 and New Scientist 14 January 2021. Finches on two of the most northerly islands of the Galapagos Islands have been found to feed on the blood of […]
Human thumbs are two million years old, according to reports in Science (AAAS) News and SciTech Daily 28 January and Current Biology 28 January 2021 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.041. Scientists at the University of Tübingen made computer models of thumb bones from “a variety of ancient hominins” along with those of modern humans and chimpanzees, and used […]
Why crocodiles haven’t evolved, according to University of Bristol press release and ScienceDaily 7 January 2021, and Communications Biology, 7 January 2021 doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01561-5. Living crocodiles are very similar to fossil crocodiles found in Jurassic rocks dated at over 200 million years old. There are only 25 species living today, but in the past there […]
Feather Flop 2 – Pterosaur “protofeather” according to reports in ScienceDaily 28 September 2020 and Nature Ecology and Evolution, 28 September 2020; doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-01308-9. In 2018 a group of scientists led by Zixiao Yang of Nanjing University claimed they had found evidence that pterosaurs (flying reptiles) had proto-feathers. Their claim was based on fine filaments, […]
Humans still evolving, claim scientists, according to Flinders University News and SciTech Daily 8 October 2020, BBC Science Focus and Science Alert 9 October 2020, Interesting Engineering 11 October 2020, and Journal of Anatomy published online 10 September 2020 doi:10.1111/joa.13224. Researchers at Flinders University and University of Adelaide have found an increase in the number […]