evolutionary biology, evolution

Two island populations of male crickets independently evolved to evade parasites by keeping quiet, and have come up with a way to sneak matings with females that still seek the male courtship song.

The International Institute for Species Exploration announces its picks of novel species discovered in the past year, including a carnivorous mammal, a tiny shrimp, and a fungus.

Disgraced psychology researcher Marc Hauser, who was found guilty of data fabrication and falsification during his time at Harvard, publishes two new papers.

Researchers unearth little evidence to suggest modern humans are superior to their Neanderthal ancestors.

Conservationists are reintroducing large animals to areas they once roamed, providing ecologists with the chance to assess whether such “rewilding” efforts can restore lost ecosystems.

An organization hopes to restore natural ecological processes by reintroducing large herbivores to the continent.

Researchers collate a list of the 100 most rare and unique avian species facing extinction.

The gene behind a butterfly’s mimicry; the evolution of adipose fins; bacteria and bowel cancer; plants lacking plastid genomes

Adipose fins, long considered vestigial, may have evolved multiple times as a key adaptation in some fish, study finds.

Fish with complex light-emitting photophore patterns may be primed to split into new species.

An analysis of the transcriptomes of several fruit fly strains reveals dozens of possible de novo genes in each.

Helicobacter pylori strains that share ancestry with their human hosts are less likely to cause severe disease.

A look at 2013’s noteworthy new species

The genome of Amborella trichopoda—the sister species of all flowering plants—provides clues about this group’s rise to power.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute this week released three short films to teach students about evolution and speciation.

Chilly mice develop more tumors; gut bacteria aid cancer treatment; two Y chromosome genes sufficient for assisted reproduction; HIV’s “invisibility cloak”

Two genes from the Y chromosome are sufficient to generate male mice capable of fathering healthy offspring via an assisted reproductive technique.

Biologists have struggled for centuries to properly define what constitutes a “species.” They may have been asking the wrong question—many smaller organisms might not form species at all.

Grasshopper mice harbor mutations in a pain-transmitting sodium channel that allow them to prey on highly toxic bark scorpions.

More than 320,000 mammalian viruses lurk; evolution of echolocation in bats and dolphins; accumulation of mutations in drug-resistant tuberculosis; senior researchers reluctant to retire