NewsCloud.com Evolution News

Bizarre DNA of Platypus tells a story about us

There are genes for egg laying, evidence of the animal\\\\\\'s reptilian roots. Genes for making milk, which the platypus does in mammalian style despite not having nipples. Genes for making snake venom, which the animal stores in its legs. And there are five times more sex-determining chromosomes than scientists know what to do with.

Upright Walking Began 6 Million Years Ago, Thigh Bone Comparison Suggests

A shape comparison of the most complete fossil femur (thigh bone) of one of the earliest known pre-humans, or hominins, with the femora of living apes, modern humans and other fossils, indicates the earliest form of bipedalism occurred at least six million years ago and persisted for at least four million years. William Jungers, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University, and Brian Richmond, Ph.D., of George Washington University, say their finding indicates that the fossil belongs to very early human ancestors, and that upright walking is one of the first human characteristics to appear in our lineage, right after the split between human and chimpanzee lineages. Their findings are published in the March 21 issue of the journal Science.

Birds Do It. Bees Do It. Dragons Don’t Need To.

But these eggs two of which hatched a few weeks ago were unusual: they developed from a female that had had no male of the species in close proximity for more than a decade. Judging from similar occurrences over the past two years in Britain, it appears that these lizards sometimes use a form of virgin birth in which eggs hatch without conception. The embryos are genetic clones of the mother.

Evolution battle flares in states

Creationism v. evolution in schools has been for many years a battle in the nation s culture war, and these days it s no different.

No Easy Answers In Evolution Of Human Language

The evolution of human speech was far more complex than is implied by some recent attempts to link it to a specific gene, says Robert Berwick, professor of computational linguistics at MIT.

Giant Frog Jumps Continents

A giant frog fossil from Madagascar dubbed Beelzebufo or `the frog from Hell' has been identified by scientists from UCL (University College London) and Stony Brook University, New York. The discovery of the 70 million year-old fossil frog, of a kind once thought unique to South America, lends weight to a new theory that Madagascar, India and South America were linked until late in the Age of Dinosaurs.

The Family That Walks On All Fours

A documentary film on a family living in remote Turkey aired on BBC in 2006, and again on NOVA a few months ago. Why should we care about this Muslim Turkish family? Because several of the many siblings walk on both their hands and their feet, a way that humans have not walked for millions of years. Are they the key to unlocking the course of human evolution?

The bugs that came in from the cold

Locked in ice for millions of years, Antarctic bacteria are thawing and they're alive. So will a prehistoric plague be swimming in a sea near you?

Fossil finds challenge view of man's place in evolution - Independent Online Edition > Sci_Tech

Two fossils discovered in northern Kenya directly challenge the established view that there was a linear progression from apes to humans.

Structure of 450 million year old protein reveals evolution's steps

A detailed map that pinpoints the location of every atom in a 450-million-year-old resurrected protein reveals the precise evolutionary steps needed to create the molecule s modern version, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Oregon.

Why Humans Walk On Two Legs

A team of anthropologists that studied chimpanzees trained to use treadmills has gathered new evidence suggesting that our earliest apelike ancestors started walking on two legs because it required less energy than getting around on all fours.

Evolution-centered science OK'd in Kan. - Science

The new guidelines reflect mainstream scientific views of evolution and represent a political defeat for advocates of intelligent design, who had helped write the standards that are being jettisoned.

Imperical Evidence

Some scientists think spirituality is ignorance.

Tired of all the religious garbage? It's time to become an Enlightenist

Let s start with vocabulary. Let s stop describing these tax-funded establishments as faith schools. They are superstition schools, for that is what they teach. Alongside hard facts, innocent children are hoodwinked into accepting as real the mythology of virgin births, gods who regard women with bare heads as wicked harlots, that Noah s Ark was real and that Darwin was wrong. It s clear that, given the rising tide of superstition sweeping our country, no politician will help end this state-funded child abuse, and so it is time to try and fight back.

Evolution Wins Out in Michigan Curriculum

The State Board of Education on Tuesday approved public school curriculum guidelines that support the teaching of evolution in science classes -- but not intelligent design. Intelligent design instruction could be left for other classes in Michigan schools, but it doesn't belong in science class, according to the unanimously adopted guidelines.