Aug
21
2008
An animal’s ability to survive often depends on how well it can avoid predators. Many species of fish, birds, and mammals have evolved ingenious methods of staying hidden from predators by blending into the background in one form or another. But what about animals that do the opposite? How and why would such attention-grabbing features [...]
Tags: evolution, Fruit Fly, Peacock, Sexual Selection
Aug
07
2008
Despite mounting genetic evidence that modern humans are not descended from Neanderthals, there are still some who argue that our two species interbred when both roamed Europe about 35,000 years ago.
A report appearing tomorrow in the journal Cell puts another nail in that theory’s coffin. Svante Paabo’s group at the Max Planck Institute for Anthropology [...]
Tags: ancestry, evolution, mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA, Neanderthals
Jul
01
2008
Last month I had the opportunity to go to the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution conference in the striking city of Barcelona. This is the premiere conference for geneticists studying evolution in everything from bacteria to fruit flies, weeds, worms and our favorite model organism, humans! This is a highly interactive conference: almost everyone [...]
Tags: Duffy, evolution, FOXP2, genetics, HapMap, HGDP, Imprinting, Lactose Intolerance, LCT, Malaria, SMBE
Jun
27
2008
This month I had the opportunity to go to the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution conference in the striking city of Barcelona. This is the premiere conference for geneticists studying evolution in everything from bacteria to fruit flies, weeds, worms and our favorite model organism, humans! This is a highly interactive conference: almost everyone [...]
Tags: ancestry, evolution, Jimmy Buffet, maternal ancestry, mtDNA, Stone Age