A Powerful X-ray scanning techniques revealed the 1mm creature in perfect detail. Credit: P Donoghue et al/University of Bristol.Researchers share that they have solved an evolutionary puzzle of a 500 million-year-old microscopic, creature with a mouth yet no anus.When discovered in 2017, it was reported that the small sack-like aquatic creature's fossil might be...
Daran-Lapujade’s lab took human DNA (in red) encoding core functions in muscle cells, and inserted it into the DNA (chromosomes in purple) of a yeast cell (in yellow). The humanized yeast can be used as a tool for medical studies, for example in drug screening and cancer research. Credit: Ella Maru Studio / Pascale...
Mitochondria are the energy powerhouses in eukaryotic cells. One popular hypothesis claims these organelles were a pre-requisite to the transition from simpler prokaryotes like bacteria and archaea to larger, more complex eukaryotic organisms. The new study challenges this assumption. Credit: Jason DreesIn the beginning, there was boredom. Following the emergence of cellular life on...
Two Thylacine in a cage. Credit: WikipediaScientists in Australia and the United States are starting a multi-million dollar project to bring the Tasmanian tiger back from extinction.The last known Tasmanian Tiger, technically named Thylacine, passed away in the 1930s.The group behind the effort claims it can accomplish this using stem cells and gene-editing technology....
A 99-million-year-old piece of amber trapped this worker hell ant grasping an ancient relative of modern cockroaches in its unique jaws, which swung upwards unlike all modern ants.The 99-million-yr-old ant had scythe-like jaws that swung upward to pin prey against a horn-like head appendage.Some 99 million years back, an ant, unlike any alive today,...
Belinda Chang (back left) leads a lab that focuses on the evolutionary transition of animals' vision. Sarah Dungan (right of Chang) researched whale vision as a former member of Chang’s lab. Credit: Diana TyszkoCollege of Toronto researchers have clarified the evolutionary transition of whales' early ancestors from on-shore living to deep-sea foraging, recommending that these...
Horticulturalist Carlos Magdalena in Bolivia viewing the largest known giant water lily species (Victoria boliviana). Credit: Cesar David SalazarAn artist's observations, two botanists' suspicions, and DNA tests reveal a case of mistaken identity among giant water plants.When 19th-century European botanists encountered impressive water lilies with leaves more extensive than a pingpong table, they initially...
Credit: durantelallera/ShutterstockA study looks to find the reason for males having more upper-body mass than women. The research is based on the assumption that men have been fighters for so long that evolution has chosen those best equipped for the task. If men combated other men, winners would have survived and reproduced, losers not...
Researchers have joined macro photography with DNA metabarcoding to create a brand-new botanical "CSI" device that might hold the key to safeguarding the future of Australia's critically endangered carnivorous plants.The brand-new technology-- developed by researchers from Curtin University, the Botanical and Zoological Natural History Collections in Munich, and the University of Munich-- enables specialists...
Credit: CI Photos/ShutterstockJosiah Zayner is the first individual known to have modified his personal DNA and he revealed the planet just how easy it is to do, live-streaming the process on his blog, "Science, Art, Beauty". Zayner claims this was the second time he has genetically changed himself.Utilizing CRISPR, a fairly new gene-editing method,...
