Atoms and the Miracle of Life
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Insects a Prime Driver in Plant Evolution and Diversity
Take a good look around on your next nature hike. Not only are you experiencing the wonders of the outdoors – you’re probably also witnessing evolution in action. New research from the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) on the effect of insects on plant populations has shown that evolution can happen more quickly than was…
Did Life on Earth Come From Mars?
Given the same raw materials, Mars would have been a better host for life to arise than Earth, which some scientists believe was too flooded for the chemistry of life to gain a toehold. Without at least occasional dry land, the chemistry needed to get life started doesn’t work very well because the molecules to…
Early Plants Linked to Ancient Ice Ages
The first plants to appear on earth 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages by causing a reduction in atmospheric carbon, British researchers said. Scientists say the first plants to grow on land, the ancestors of mosses that grow today, had a dramatic impact on the global carbon cycle and the world’s…
Ancient Antarctica Was Warm Enough for Vegetation
Ancient Antarctica was much warmer and wetter than previously suspected, a new study has found. The climate was suitable to support substantial vegetation – including stunted trees – along the edges of the frozen continent. By examining plant leaf wax remnants in sediment core samples taken from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, the research team…
Agriculture’s Role in Our Societies Not So Simple
The tidy picture of seemingly inevitable social “progress” following the appearance of domesticated plants is challenged by a study of human remains from the Krieger site in southwestern Ontario published in the journal American Antiquity. Author Metanexus Editors
Brain Wiring, Not Just Size, Helped Humans Evolve Beyond Chimps
Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin? A new UCLA study pinpoints uniquely human patterns of gene activity in the brain that could shed light on how we evolved differently than our…