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Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

Neanderthal Nuclear DNA Found in Paleolithic Cave Sediments

Apr 16, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has developed new methods for the enrichment and analysis of nuclear DNA from sediments, and applied them to cave deposits...

A graphical abstract showing the six sex chromosomes found in Odorrana swinhoana. Image credit: Ikuo Miura.

Taiwanese Frog Has Six Sex Chromosomes, Study Shows

Apr 15, 2021 by News Staff

Biologists have found a multiple sex chromosome system comprising three different chromosome pairs in Odorrana swinhoana, a species of medium to large-sized...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

First European Homo sapiens Mixed with Neanderthals, DNA Study Shows

Apr 9, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have extracted and analyzed DNA from three individuals of anatomically modern humans who lived between 45,930 and 42,580 years ago in what is...

Bombus incognitus is indistinguishable from Bombus sylvicola using typical diagnostic characters. Image credit: Jennifer Geib.

Cryptic New Species of Bumblebee Discovered in Rocky Mountains

Apr 8, 2021 by News Staff

A research team led by Uppsala University scientists has sequenced and compared the genomes of a bumblebee species called Bombus sylvicola and a previously...

Naqvi et al. recently developed a data-driven approach to phenotyping complex, multidimensional traits; this multivariate approach, when applied to facial surface images, revealed numerous genomic loci with no previously known role in human face shape variation; in the new study, the team implemented this approach to discover associations between common genetic variants and brain shape, using MRI data from middle-aged participants in the UK Biobank. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Genetic Link between Brain and Face Shape Discovered

Apr 6, 2021 by News Staff

In a genome-wide association study involving 19,644 individuals of European ancestry, an international team of researchers identified 472 genomic regions,...

Silverleaf whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) carry a plant-derived phenolic glucoside malonyltransferase gene BtPMaT1, which enables the insects to neutralize phenolic glycosides in host plants. Image credit: Xia et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.014.

Silverleaf Whiteflies Carry Plant-Derived Detoxification Gene, New Study Shows

Mar 26, 2021 by News Staff

The silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) incorporated a gene called BtPMaT1 from plants into its genome roughly 35 million years ago and now uses it to...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Southeast Asians Carry DNA of ‘Mysterious Southern Denisovans’

Mar 23, 2021 by News Staff

The hominin fossil record of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) indicates that at least two super-archaic species, Homo luzonensis and Homo floresiensis, were...

Dry age-related macular degeneration is one of the most common causes of vision loss in people over the age of 50. Image credit: Pexels.

Researchers Identify 50 New Eye Color Genes

Mar 15, 2021 by News Staff

The largest genome-wide association study for eye color to date, involving up to 192,986 European participants from 10 populations, has identified 124...

Tagged peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). Image credit: Andrew Dixon.

Biologists Find Evidence of Migration Gene in Birds

Mar 9, 2021 by News Staff

Millions of migratory birds occupy seasonally favorable breeding grounds in the Arctic, but scientists know little about the formation, maintenance and...

Reconstruction of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). Image credit: Sergio de la Larosa / CC BY-SA 3.0.

360,000-Year-Old DNA Sheds New Light on Evolutionary History of Cave Bears

Feb 25, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has extracted and sequenced DNA from a 360,000-year-old petrous bone of the extinct cave bear Ursus kudarensis found...

Canadian Eskimo dogs. Illustration by John James Audubon and John Bachman (1845-1848).

Researchers Sequence Mitochondrial Genome of Early Dog from Alaska

Feb 24, 2021 by News Staff

Scientists have extracted and sequenced mitochondrial DNA from a partial femur of an ancient dog that lived in Alaska 10,150 years ago. Their results,...

Life reconstruction of the steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii). Image credit: Beth Zaiken / Centre for Palaeogenetics.

Researchers Sequence 1.2-Million-Year-Old Mammoth DNA

Feb 17, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced and analyzed DNA from three mammoth specimens, two of which are more than one million years old. The...

The white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator) in Panama. Image credit: Charles J. Sharp, Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Scientists Sequence Genome of White-Faced Capuchin

Feb 15, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United Kingdom and Canada has sequenced the genome of the white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator), a medium-sized New World...

Latimeria chalumnae off Pumula on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, South Africa, on November 22, 2019. Image credit: Bruce Henderson, doi: 10.17159/sajs.2020/7806.

Coelacanths Are Not ‘Living Fossils,’ New Study Shows

Feb 10, 2021 by News Staff

The primitive-looking coelacanth has long been regarded as a ‘living fossil,’ with extant specimens looking very similar to fossils dating back to...

Native Americans Inherited Lip Shape Gene from Denisovans

Feb 8, 2021 by News Staff

In a genome-wide association study of 6,169 Latin American individuals, an international team of scientists identified 32 gene regions (loci) that influenced...

Wolffia australiana. Image credit: Sowjanya Sree / Philomena Chu.

Scientists Sequence Genome of World’s Fastest-Growing Plant

Feb 4, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has generated and analyzed draft reference genomes of Wolffia australiana, which has the smallest genome size in its...

Sapria himalayana can found in Southeast Asia. Image credit: Charles Davis / Davis Lab, Harvard University.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Rare Parasitic Flowering Plant

Jan 25, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed the genome of Sapria himalayana, a rare holoparasitic flowering plant in the family Rafflesiaceae....

The Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) at the National Zoo & Aquarium in Canberra, Australia. Image credit: Mitch Ames / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Australian Lungfish Genome Sequenced

Jan 21, 2021 by Natali Anderson

The Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri), a species of lungfish native to the Mary and Burnett River systems in south-eastern Queensland, has a...

Somewhere in Southwestern North America during the Late Pleistocene, a pack of dire wolves (Canis dirus) are feeding on their bison kill, while a pair of gray wolves (Canis lupus) approach in the hopes of scavenging. One of the dire wolves rushes in to confront the gray wolves, and their confrontation allows a comparison of the bigger, larger-headed and reddish-brown dire wolf with its smaller, gray relative. Image credit: Mauricio Antón / Nature.

Dire Wolves Split from Living Canids 5.7 Million Years Ago: Study

Jan 15, 2021 by News Staff

Dire wolves (Canis dirus) are considered to be one of the most common and widespread large carnivores in Pleistocene America, yet relatively little is...