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Coral in shallow beach branching upward with blue fish in front
Corals Upend Longstanding Idea About Genetic Inheritance
Most animals can’t pass on mutations that arise spontaneously throughout their lives—but Elkhorn corals can.
Corals Upend Longstanding Idea About Genetic Inheritance
Corals Upend Longstanding Idea About Genetic Inheritance

Most animals can’t pass on mutations that arise spontaneously throughout their lives—but Elkhorn corals can.

Most animals can’t pass on mutations that arise spontaneously throughout their lives—but Elkhorn corals can.

adaptation, genetics & genomics

Adélie penguin family
Penguins Are Among the World’s Slowest-Evolving Birds: Study
Catherine Offord | Jul 19, 2022 | 2 min read
The findings mean that penguins may struggle to adapt under rapid climate change, researchers say.
Drosophila melanogaster on cactus leaf
Fruit Flies Evolve in Time with the Seasons: Study
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Mar 17, 2022 | 5 min read
Researchers find that evolution can operate on extraordinarily fast timescales.
giraffe, genetics & genomics, CRISPR, gene editing, genome, physiology, hypertension, bone growth, techniques, mouse model
Genome Reveals Clues to Giraffes’ “Blatantly Strange” Body Shape
Amanda Heidt | Mar 19, 2021 | 5 min read
The physiological demands of that long neck get support from a gene involved in strengthening bones and blood vessels, researchers find after inserting the sequence in mice.
Certain Color Varieties of a Coral Are More Protected from Bleaching
Lisa Winter | Feb 25, 2021 | 2 min read
In yellow-green and purple versions of the reef-building Acropora tenuis, the genes that code for particular fluorescent and other colorful proteins become more active in the summer, protecting symbiotic algae from thermal stress and resisting bleaching.
Circadian Clock Genes Help a Crop Pest Adapt to Climate Change
Emily Makowski | Jan 13, 2020 | 3 min read
As global temperatures rise and winters shorten, caterpillars of the corn borer moth are emerging earlier in parts of the US thanks to changes in two genes, researchers find.
Free Divers From Southeast Asia Evolved Bigger Spleens
Anna Azvolinsky | Apr 19, 2018 | 4 min read
The adaptation gives better endurance to the Bajau people, known as sea nomads, by increasing spleen size and, in turn, boosting the number of oxygenated red blood cells when diving.  
Global Patterns of Human Epigenetic Variation
Ashley Yeager | Aug 28, 2017 | 3 min read
A study of five far-flung human populations gives clues to adaptations to environmental pressures.
Abscisic Acid’s Role in Ferns Finally Determined
Jef Akst | Feb 1, 2017 | 4 min read
Researchers solve the mystery of 15-year-old mutant ferns with disrupted sex determination.
Feeling Around in the Dark
Catherine Offord | May 1, 2016 | 4 min read
Scientists work to unlock the genetic secrets of a population of fruit flies kept in total darkness for more than six decades.
Evolution Takes a Road Trip
Dan Cossins | Jun 1, 2013 | 4 min read
Highways and byways are among the man-made environmental alterations driving the evolution of animals on contemporary timescales, with implications for ecology.
Gain a Chromosome and Adapt
Sabrina Richards | Jan 29, 2012 | 3 min read
Research in yeast shows that aneuploidy is both a consequence of and an adaptation to stress.
Climate-Shaped Arabidopsis Genome
Kerry Grens | Oct 6, 2011 | 3 min read
Two genome-wide studies, backed up by field experiments, identify SNPs that correlate with Arabidopsis fitness in various climates.
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