News tagged with evolutionary changes


Competing pathways affect early differentiation of higher brain structures

Sand-dwelling and rock-dwelling cichlids living in East Africa's Lake Malawi share a nearly identical genome, but have very different personalities. The territorial rock-dwellers live in communities where ...

Neuroscience created Apr 26, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Evolving genes lead to evolving genes

Researchers have designed a method that can universally test for evolutionary adaption, or positive (Darwinian) selection, in any chosen set of genes, using re-sequencing data such as that generated by the 1000 Genomes Project. ...

Genetics created Apr 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Using human brain cells to make mice smarter

Glial cells – a family of cells found in the human central nervous system and, until recently, considered mere "housekeepers" – now appear to be essential to the unique complexity of the human brain. Scientists reached ...

Medical research created Mar 07, 2013 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Following the footprints of positive selection

For decades, the human genome could only tell us what we already suspected about the evolution of certain traits. Researchers were able to trace the genetic origin stories of lactose tolerance (as opposed ...

Genetics created Feb 15, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Two studies reveal genetic variation driving human evolution

A pair of studies published by Cell Press on February 14th in the journal Cell sheds new light on genetic variation that may have played a key role in human evolution. The study researchers used an animal ...

Genetics created Feb 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bugs without borders: Researchers track the emergence and global spread of healthcare associated Clostridium difficile

Researchers show that the global epidemic of Clostridium difficile 027/NAP1/BI in the early to mid-2000s was caused by the spread of two different but highly related strains of the bacterium rather than one as was previo ...

Genetics created Dec 09, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers: Darwin's principles say cancer will always evolve to resist treatment

According to researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, cancer is subject to the evolutionary processes laid out by Charles Darwin in his concept of natural selection. Natural selection was the process identified by Darwin by ...

Cancer created Jun 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Evolution's gift may also be at the root of a form of autism

A recently evolved pattern of gene activity in the language and decision-making centers of the human brain is missing in a disorder associated with autism and learning disabilities, a new study by Yale University researchers ...

Genetics created May 10, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Extended synaptic development may explain our cognitive edge over other primates

Over the first few years of life, human cognition continues to develop, soaking up information and experiences from the environment and far surpassing the abilities of even our nearest primate relatives. In a study published ...

Genetics created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast