An intriguing new hypothesis published in the journal Trends in Genetics suggests that we are losing our intellectual and emotional capabilities because the intricate web of genes endowing us with our brain power is particularly susceptible to mutations and that these mutations are not being selected against in the modern world. The papers’ author, Dr. […]
The brain-boosting genetic mutation that allowed primitive man to migrate across the African continent is over-represented in modern-day African Americans and is believed to be responsible for the higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancer in that racial group. The findings are the result of a genetic analysis of different racial and […]
Birds and dinosaurs are more closely related than previously thought, say scientists who claim that modern birds are, essentially, living juvenile dinosaurs. According to Harvard’s Arkhat Abzhanov, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, the evolution of birds is the result of a drastic change in how dinosaurs developed. Rather than taking years to reach […]
Anxiety and excessive worry, traits that are usually viewed as maladaptive, appear to have co-evolved with the attribute that is viewed as most adaptive – human intelligence. Details of this intriguing research, led by Jeremy Coplan, professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, appear in the journalFrontiers in Evolutionary […]
Detailed observations of chimpanzees indicate that upright walking may have emerged millions of years ago as an adaptation to be better able to carry scarce, high-quality foods and other resources. The new findings, in Current Biology, provide yet another hypothesis for the emergence of bipedalism, which other studies have linked to fighting ability, climate changeand […]
One-in-20 honey bees are thrill seekers, say University of Illinois entomologists who have identified distinct patterns of gene activity in the same molecular pathways known to be associated with thrill-seeking in humans. Their study, published in Science, suggests that thrill-seeking is not limited to humans and other vertebrates and that novelty seeking is an important […]
Despite our preoccupation with all things gastronomic, surprising little is known about how food preparation affects the energy it supplies to our bodies. Now, for the first time, Harvard researchers have shown that cooked food yields more energy than raw, leading them to speculate that cooking played a key role in driving the evolution of […]
A University of California study by psychologist Laura Mickes has found that men are funnier than women, but not by much, and probably not because it helps them find partners. The stereotypical belief that men have a GSOH is based on an evolutionary sexual-selection argument that likens a man’s sense of humor to a peacock’s […]
Evolutionary biologists at Stanford University have been pondering why most cultures have a class structure instead of being egalitarian. The answer they’ve arrived it is both ironic and shocking, as it appears that the very inequities of the class system were the driver for its global spread. In the new Stanford study, appearing in the […]
A study of 16th century European skulls by North Carolina State University researchers has found that women are beginning to resemble men as differences in gender-associated craniofacial features become less over time. The study, appearing in the journalForensic Science International, examined hundreds of Spanish and Portuguese skulls spanning four centuries. Principal researcher, Dr. Ann Ross, […]
