Genetics News | Sci.News

Grey wolves. Image credit: Mr T HK / CC BY 2.0.

Ancestors of Modern Dogs, Wolves Split at least 27,000 Years Ago

May 22, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and elsewhere sequenced and analyzed the draft genome of a 35,000-year-old wolf from the...

The buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). Image credit: Simon Koopmann / CC BY-SA 2.0 DE.

Scientists Sequence Genomes of Two Bumblebee Species

Apr 24, 2015 by News Staff

Genetic researchers have sequenced and analyzed the complete genomes of two key bumblebee species – the European buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)...

This is an artist’s rendition of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Image credit: Flying Puffin / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Genetic Scientists Sequence Complete Genomes of Two Woolly Mammoths

Apr 23, 2015 by News Staff

A group of scientists from the United States, Sweden, Canada, and the UK, has sequenced and analyzed the complete high-quality genomes of two woolly mammoths...

The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei). Image credit: Gavin Langille / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Mountain Gorillas Reveal Their Genetic Secrets

Apr 9, 2015 by News Staff

A team of genetic scientists, co-led by Dr Chris Tyler-Smith of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Dr Aylwyn Scally of the University of Cambridge,...

Wheat fields in Lviv region, Ukraine. Image credit: Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Create Haplotype Map of Wheat Varieties

Mar 20, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by Dr Eduard Akhunov of Kansas State University has created the first haplotype map of wheat that provides detailed...

Major events in the peopling of the British Isles. Top left: the routes taken by the first settlers after the last ice age. Top right: Britain during the period of Roman rule. Bottom left: the regions of ancient British, Irish and Saxon control. Bottom right: the migrations of Norse and Danish Vikings; the main regions of Norse Viking (light brown) and Danish Viking (light blue) settlement are shown. Image credit: Stephen Leslie et al / EuroGeographics.

New Study Examines Genetic Structure of British Population

Mar 19, 2015 by News Staff

In a new study published in the journal Nature, scientists used DNA samples collected from 2,039 people to create the fine-scale genetic map of British...

A still frame from the Patterson-Gimlin film, a famous motion picture of an unidentified subject filmed on October 20, 1967 by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin on Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River about 25 road miles north-west of Orleans, California.

No Need to Replace Himalayan Yeti with Unknown Species of Bear, Says New Study

Mar 17, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists behind a new study published in the journal ZooKeys reject a recent claim that a yet-to-be-discovered species of Himalayan bear may be the source...

A photograph of a Japanese samurai taken by Felice Beato in 1867.

Research Casts More Light on Origins of Japanese People

Mar 13, 2015 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution provides more support for the hypothesis that modern Japanese are an admixed population...

Asia’s peoples, Nordisk familjebok, 1904.

Many Modern Asian Men Have Genetic Links to Genghis Khan, Ten Other Dynastic Leaders

Mar 9, 2015 by News Staff

According to a new study reported in the journal European Journal of Human Genetics, millions of modern Asian men are descended from eleven dynastic leaders,...

An anatomical illustration from Johannes Sobotta’s Human Anatomy, 1908.

Scientists Identify ‘Big Brain’ Gene in Humans, Neanderthals

Feb 27, 2015 by News Staff

A gene that is responsible for brain size in modern Homo sapiens and their ancient relatives, Neanderthals and Denisovans, has been identified by a team...

Scanning electron micrograph of the bladder of Utricularia gibba, color added; the plant is a voracious carnivore, with its tiny, 1-mm-long bladders leveraging vacuum pressure to suck in tiny prey at great speed. Image credit: Enrique Ibarra-Laclette / Claudia Anahi Perez-Torres / Paulina Lozano-Sotomayor.

Genetic Researchers Amazed by Carnivorous Bladderworts

Feb 23, 2015 by News Staff

According to a group of genetic scientists led by Prof Victor Albert of the University at Buffalo, the carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba, commonly known...

The large ground finch (Geospiza magnirostris), one of Darwin’s finches; Charles and Chatham Islands, Galapagos Archipelago. Image credit: © Linda Hall Library.

Scientists Unlock Genetic Secrets of Galápagos Finches

Feb 12, 2015 by News Staff

Darwin’s finches, also known as the Galápagos finches, constitute an iconic model for studies of speciation and adaptive evolution. An international...

Water beetle Acilius sulcatus. Image credit: Kai Kluwe.

Vision Gene Found in Blind Water Beetles

Jan 28, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Australia has discovered that a species of blind water beetle called Limbodessus palmulaoides – living underground for millions...

Giant wallaby (Protemnodon anak). Image credit: Nobu Tamura / CC BY 3.0.

Scientists Extract DNA from 45,000-Year-Old Kangaroo, Wallaby

Jan 15, 2015 by News Staff

Australian researchers have managed to extract DNA from two extinct marsupials: a giant short-faced kangaroo (Simosthenurus occidentalis) and a giant wallaby...

Scientists analyzed DNA from ancient dog remains from more than a dozen sites in North and South America. This illustration shows a Canadian Eskimo Dog by John James Audubon and John Bachman (1845-1848).

Dogs Migrated to Americas only 10,000 Years Ago – Study

Jan 9, 2015 by News Staff

Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) arrived in the Americas only about 10,000 years ago, thousands of years after the first human migrants crossed the Bering...

Scientists Sequence Genome of Bowhead Whale

Jan 6, 2015 by News Staff

A team of genetic researchers headed by Dr Joao Pedro de Magalhaes from the University of Liverpool, UK, has sequenced the genome of the mysterious bowhead...

Mutations that eliminated enamel and dentin from the teeth of modern birds - an event which eventually led to toothless beaks - began about 116 million years ago, according to a new study. Image credit: Michael Day / CC BY 2.0.

Birds Lost Their Teeth 116 Million Years Ago, Scientists Say

Dec 15, 2014 by News Staff

A group of genetic researchers led by Prof Mark Springer from Montclair State University has found that teeth were lost in the common ancestor of all living...

Scientists Sequence Genomes of 48 Bird Species, Unveil Avian Family Tree

Dec 12, 2014 by News Staff

In an ambitious four-year genetic study on bird evolution, an international consortium of more than 200 scientists from 80 institutions across 20 countries...

Portrait of Richard III, painted c. 1520, after a lost original, now owned by the Society of Antiquaries, London. Image credit: © Society of Antiquaries of London.

DNA Study Confirms Leicester Skeleton is King Richard III

Dec 3, 2014 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications provides overwhelming evidence that the human skeleton found under a car park in Leicester,...