Flying Lemurs Are The Closest Relatives Of Primates:
While the human species is unquestionably a member of the Primate group, the identity of the next closest group to primates within the entire class of living mammals has been hotly debated. Now, new molecular and genomic data gathered by a team including Webb Miller, a professor of biology and computer science and engineering at the Penn State University, has shown that the colugos -- nicknamed the flying lemurs -- is the closest group to the primates.
Anne-Marie has more.
Fossil Record Reveals Elusive Jellyfish More Than 500 Million Years Old:
Using recently discovered "fossil snapshots" found in rocks more than 500 million years old, three University of Kansas researchers have described the oldest definitive jellyfish ever found.
How Old Tree Rings And Ancient Wood Are Helping Rewrite History:
Cornell archaeologists are rewriting history with the help of tree rings from 900-year-old trees, wood found on ancient buildings and through analysis of the isotopes (especially radiocarbon dating) and chemistry they can find in that wood.
Burrowing Mammals Dig For A Living, But How Do They Do That?:
Next time you see a mole digging in tree-root-filled soil in search of supper, take a moment to ponder the mammal's humerus bones. When seen in the lab, they are nothing like the long upper arm bones of any other mammal, says Samantha Hopkins, a paleontologist at the University of Oregon.
Hanging Around With Lemurs, The Planet's Most Primitive Primates:
Nayuta Yamashita's office is in the Alan Hancock Foundation Building, right in the heart of USC's campus. But her lab, in the truest sense, is halfway around the world.
Tangled Web Of The Insect, Plant And Parasite Arms Race:
New insights into the evolutionary relationship between plant-dwelling insects and their parasites are revealed in the online open access journal BMC Biology. Researchers shed light on how sawflies evolved to escape their parasites and gain themselves an 'enemy-free space' for millions of years.
Life Science
