Tag - evolution

 
 

EVOLUTION

COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2016
Scientists give the tree of life a brand-new look
Humans are the only animal that has the power to choose which limbs of the tree of life survive.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 21, 2016
Monkey mariners made monumental migration 21 million years ago
Monkeys resembling today's capuchins accomplished the astonishing feat of crossing at least 100 miles (160 km) of open ocean 21 million years ago to get from South America to North America eons before the two continents joined together.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 1, 2016
Ohio zoo's gorilla provides window into genome similarities between humans, great apes
A gorilla named Susie is helping provide fresh insight into the genetic similarities and differences between people and these endangered apes that are among our closest living relatives.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 19, 2016
Do chimp rituals reveal roots of religion?
How did gods evolve? I can't promise to answer a question of such gravity this week, but I can perhaps raise some interesting ideas.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 19, 2016
Dinosaur discovery in Central Asia solves T. rex mystery
Fossils unearthed in northern Uzbekistan's remote Kyzylkum Desert of a smaller, older cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex are showing that the modest forerunners of that famous brute had already acquired the sophisticated brain and senses that helped make it such a horrifying predator.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 10, 2016
Prehistoric marine reptiles killed off by global warming
One of the enduring mysteries of paleontology, the demise of a highly successful group of dolphin-like marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs that flourished in the seas for more than 150 million years, may finally have been solved.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 6, 2016
'Missing link' lizard breaks age record at 99 million years
A fossilized lizard found in Southeast Asia preserved in amber dates back some 99 million years, Florida scientists have determined, making it the oldest specimen of its kind and a "missing link" for reptile researchers.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 3, 2016
Oldest fossils of a land organism are fungus that made soils for plants
At first glance, they do not look like much: tiny fragments of a primordial fungus shorter than a single hair's width. But these fungal remnants possess the unique distinction of being the oldest-known fossils of any land-dwelling organism on Earth.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 25, 2016
Dodos were not so dumb after all
The dodo is an extinct flightless bird whose name has become synonymous with stupidity. But it turns out that the dodo was no birdbrain, but instead a reasonably brainy bird.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 5, 2016
Prehistoric cousin of wildebeest boasted dinosaur-like nasal horn
In an ancient streambed on Kenya's Rusinga Island, scientists have unearthed fossils of a wildebeest-like creature named Rusingoryx that boasted a weird nasal structure more befitting of a dinosaur than a mammal.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 31, 2016
'Humans caused extinction' of huge bird 50,000 years ago
The mystery behind the extinction of a huge flightless bird called Genyornis that flourished in the grasslands and woodlands of prehistoric Australia may have been solved, with burned eggshells as the clue and people as the culprits.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 21, 2016
Dracoraptor, forerunner of fearsome T-rex, unearthed in Wales
In the early years of the Jurassic Period, when the world was recovering from one of the worst mass extinctions on record, a modest meat-eating dinosaur from Wales helped pave the way for some of the most fearsome predators ever to stalk the Earth.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 3, 2016
From a rare Florida tree, cuttings are taken to regrow forest of ancient giants
An experiment in regrowing forests of the world's oldest trees led environmentalists last week to climb a nine-story tall, 2,000-year-old cypress in central Florida known as Lady Liberty.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 18, 2015
Ancient 'Loch Ness monster' reptiles swam like penguins
Plesiosaurs, marine reptiles that thrived in the world's seas when dinosaurs ruled the land, swam much like penguins by using their flippers to "fly" underwater, scientists said on Thursday, resolving a debate that began nearly two centuries ago.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 10, 2015
Fossil of carnivorous whale named to honor 'Moby-Dick'
Don't call me Ishmael. Call me "Albicetus."
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 19, 2015
Going batty: secrets behind upside-down flight landings revealed
It is an aerial maneuver far beyond the capabilities of even the most sophisticated modern aircraft: landing upside down on a ceiling. But it is routine business for bats, and now scientists have learned precisely how they do it.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 19, 2015
Genetic sleuthing helps sort out complex ancestry of modern Europeans
DNA extracted from a skull and a molar tooth of ancient human remains discovered in the southern Caucasus region of Georgia is helping sort out the multifaceted ancestry of modern Europeans.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 6, 2015
Scientists learn how some fish can supercharge their vision
Superman can use his X-ray vision whenever the need arises. It turns out that in real life, some fish and amphibians can do something nearly as super when it come to their sight.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 30, 2015
Zap happy: electric eels innovative in subduing hapless prey
A new study has detailed how electric eels can double the voltage of their jolts by adjusting the positions of the positive and negative poles of their electric organ.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 30, 2015
Fossil unearthed in Spain sheds light on ape evolution
The well-preserved partial skull and skeleton of a gibbon-like creature that lived 11.6 million years ago in Spain is shedding new light on the evolutionary history of modern apes.

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Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan