Music in the tree of life

Music in the tree of life

18 March 2015

Modern scientific methods for mapping the evolution of species are being applied to centuries-old hand-copied music, providing new inspiration for how it is performed.

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DNA (cropped)

Human genome includes 'foreign' genes not from our ancestors

12 March 2015

Many animals, including humans, acquired essential ‘foreign’ genes from microorganisms co-habiting their environment in ancient times, according to research published in the open access journal Genome Biology. ̽»¨Ö±²¥study challenges the conventional view that animal evolution relies solely on genes passed down through ancestral lines and suggests that, at least in some lineages, the process is still ongoing.

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Baboon fight

Females protect offspring from infanticide by forcing males to compete through sperm instead of violence

13 November 2014

Latest research shows the females of some mammal species will have many mates to ensure unclear paternity, so that males can’t resort to killing their rival’s offspring for fear of killing their own. This forces males to evolve to compete through sperm quantity, leading to ever-larger testicles. Scientists find that as testis size increases, infanticide disappears.

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