Evolutionary Biology1969 articles archived since 1845

Penetrating Piscine Patterns: X-Rays Reveal What's Beneath Fishes' Scales [Slide Show]

A new exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History reveals the complex structures within fish

Penetrating Piscine Patterns: X-Rays Reveal What's Beneath Fishes' Scales [Slide Show]

A new exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History reveals the complex structures within fish

Spider Parting Gift Makes Him Sterile Father

Male orb web spiders will detach their sex organs and leave them in the female to become a father without becoming dinner. Katherine Harmon reports

Animals Get the Upper Paw, or Hoof, or Claw

Every so often a critter takes a shot at making headlines

Fetal Armor: How the Placenta Shapes Brain Development

Scientists are finding that the placenta is far more than a passive filter

Designers of Exotic Materials Learn New Tricks from Animals

Chemist Joanna Aizenberg mines the deep sea and the forest wetlands for nature's design secrets and uses them to fashion new materials that may change the world

Tame Theory: Did Bonobos Domesticate Themselves?

A new hypothesis holds that the natural selection produced the chimpanzee's nicer cousin in much the same way that humans bred dogs from wolves

Dark-Dwelling Fish Converge on Blindness

DNA analysis revealed that 11 populations of blind cave fish did not all descend from a single blind ancestor, but had five separate evolutionary origins. Sophie Bushwick reports

Insect-to-Insect Disease Transmission Squeezes U.S. Citrus Crop

A fatal bacterial tree disease spread among flies could deal a devastating blow to the citrus industry

A Second Science Front: Evolution Champions Rise to Climate Science Defense

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, long the nation's leading defender of evolution education, discusses the NCSE's new initiative to help climate science education...

A Long Flight but No Baggage

The new monarch genome gives clues to how the butterflies travel

Tiny Frog Makes Big Claim

Researchers say a newly discovered species is the world's smallest frog--and more. Cynthia Graber reports

Craig Venter Explains How Pond Scum Will Save the World

The man who first sequenced the human genome and designed the first synthetic cell explains why simple algae—and some genetic engineering—may hold the key to our future

Plight of the Condors

Once on the verge of extinction, North America's largest land birds have made a dramatic comeback. To ensure their continued survival, biologists are relying on high-tech gadgets and unusual interventions...

Ants at War [Slide Show]

Endangered Desert Microbes Protect against Coughs, Sneezes and Red Eye

Biologist Jayne Belnap warns of the consequences for the American West if we don't preserve a home for the minute organisms that live in desert topsoil

Scientists Make Supersoldier Ants

The finding could help to solve a mystery of the origin of such ants, and other ancestral throwbacks such as human tails

Yeti Crabs, Ghost Octopi Found at 1st Antarctic Deep-Sea Vents

Better knowledge of what governs the patterns of life at deep-sea vents will enable responsible decisions about how to manage these deep-ocean resources

10 Tips for Deciphering Diet and Nutrition Claims [Excerpt]

A new book by Robert J. Davis explains away some of the confusion around conventional diet wisdom and wild health claims

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Vampire Bat Santa

Plenty of nonhuman species give each other gifts. Here's a holiday selection