Evolution News and Research

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Cheesemaking Inspires New Insights into Fungal Evolution and Food Security

Many scientific discoveries are serendipitous-the result of chance. Seeing evolution in action in a cheese cave turned out to be exactly that for Benjamin Wolfe, associate professor of biology, and his colleagues.

15 Sep 2025

New Genomic Analysis Platform Launched for Tracking for Zoonotic Pathogens

Zoonotic pathogens, capable of crossing between animals and humans, pose escalating threats due to antimicrobial resistance, genetic diversification, and complex transmission patterns.

11 Sep 2025

Unraveling How Fly Embryos Solve the Fundamental Problem of "Tissue Tectonic Collision"

Combining classic comparative approaches, including collecting species from the wild, and cutting-edge light-induced gene manipulation technology, researchers from Japan and Germany have discovered how developing fly embryos solve the fundamental problem of "tissue tectonic collision" when the rapidly expanding head and torso tissues crash into each other.

10 Sep 2025

Tracing Origins of Wnt Signaling Through the Lipocone Superfamily

Researchers have described a large set of previously unrecognized enzymatic domains – named the Lipocone superfamily – and outlined their evolutionary pathway from bacterial defense molecules to key players in human development.

10 Sep 2025

Discovery of De Novo Genes Sheds Light on Peach Evolution and Traits

The emergence of new genes is a central driver of evolutionary innovation. While mechanisms such as duplication and horizontal gene transfer have been widely studied, de novo gene birth represents a unique pathway where functional genes arise from noncoding DNA.

8 Sep 2025

Earth BioGenome Project Aims to Build a Digital Library of All Life

From the mighty blue whale to the humble baker’s yeast, scientists have barely begun to understand the vast genetic diversity among lifeforms.

5 Sep 2025

Mechanical Forces Influence the Evolution of Innovations in Early Development

A small tissue fold present in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses and may have evolved in response to mechanical forces.

4 Sep 2025

AI Tool for Designing Antibiotics from Scratch

In a recent Cell Biomaterials study, University of Pennsylvania researchers offer AMP-Diffusion, a generative AI tool for creating tens of thousands of novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) — short strings of amino acids that serve as the building blocks of proteins — with bacteria-killing capability.

3 Sep 2025

Genetic Evidence Links Human Migration to Linguistic Exchange

Throughout human history, there have been many instances where two populations came into contact – especially in the past few thousand years because of large-scale migrations as a consequence of conquests, colonialization, and, more recently, globalization.

2 Sep 2025

Genetic Study Reveals Independent Origins of Eye Loss in Cavefish

Small, colorless, and blind, amblyopsid cavefishes inhabit subterranean waters throughout the eastern United States.

28 Aug 2025

How Newly Discovered Teeth In Ethiopia Are Changing The Human Origin Story

Discoveries in Ethiopia's Ledi-Geraru region highlight the coexistence of early Homo and Australopithecus, refining the narrative of human evolutionary history.

28 Aug 2025

Ancient Interbreeding Provided Modern Humans with Useful Genetic Variation

A new study provides fresh evidence that ancient interbreeding with archaic human species may have provided modern humans with genetic variation that helped them adapt to new environments as they dispersed across the globe.

22 Aug 2025

New Insights Reveal Bacterial Roots of Key Plant Hormone Enzymes

Terpenoids play vital roles in plant ecology-from repelling pests to attracting pollinators-and are produced by terpene synthases (TPSs) enzymes.

19 Aug 2025

Breaking Down the Evolutionary Puzzle of the Chaetognath

In a new Nature study, the genomic, epigenomic, and cell-level characteristics of the mysterious arrow worm have been tied together.

19 Aug 2025

Fruit Fly Courtship Behavior Transferred Through Single Gene Manipulation

Researchers in Japan have genetically transferred a unique courtship behavior from one fruit fly species to another.

18 Aug 2025

Minimal Plant Genomes Made Possible by New Genetic Strategy

Ancient events in plant evolution have left behind large, duplicated regions in their genomes.

14 Aug 2025

New Clues Emerge on What Makes the Human Brain Unique

Research from scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shed new light on an age-old question: what makes the human brain unique?

14 Aug 2025

Integrating Microfluidics and Mass Spectrometry to Unlock Cellular Complexity

Understanding cellular heterogeneity is essential for deciphering the complexities of cellular subpopulations, differentiation processes, and microenvironmental influences.

8 Aug 2025

New Research Reveals Link Between Copper Antimicrobials and Antibiotic Resistance

Copper has emerged as a key ally in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Copper sulfate solutions, for example, have been used since the 1700s to combat fungal infections in vineyards, orchards, and a variety of other agricultural contexts.

8 Aug 2025

New PCE Systems Enable Precise Genome Engineering Across Kilobase to Megabase Scales

A team of Chinese researchers led by Prof. GAO Caixia from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed two new genome editing technologies, known collectively as Programmable Chromosome Engineering (PCE) systems.

5 Aug 2025