New research shows that the earliest sponges were soft bodied and lacked skeletons, explaining why their oldest fossils are ...

The study, recently published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, suggests that the genetic variation of two species, the Brazilian sibilator frog and the granular toad, both ...

The study outlines a new scenario for understanding how genome regulation and chromatin organization influence the evolution of animal body plans. The conservation of genome regulatory elements over ...

One of the biggest quests in biology is understanding how every cell in an animal's body carries an identical genome yet still gives rise to a kaleidoscope of different cell types and tissues. A ...

Life depends on genes being switched on and off at exactly the right time. Even the simplest living organisms do this, but usually over short distances across the DNA sequence, with the on/off switch ...

Scientists have identified Ikaria wariootia, a tiny, wormlike creature that lived over 555 million years ago, as the earliest known bilaterian — an animal with a front, back, and symmetrical sides.

Sphen and Magic, two male Gentoo penguins, recently made headlines when they ‘adopted’ an egg. Gentoos are closely related to Adélie penguins, the species Levick first observed in 1911. After the two ...

"These silent 'historical witnesses' are not only crucial pieces in the grand puzzle of animal evolution, but also bearers of ...

Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at the University of Oxford have uncovered a clue that may help to explain why the earliest evidence of complex ...

LONDON — When scientists discovered two ancient sea creatures from 430 million years ago, they didn’t expect to find themselves drawing parallels with punk rock fashion. Yet these spiky fossils, ...