Mindzilla – Evolution

Evolution

‘Unnecessary’ Genetic Complexity: A Spanner in the Works?

May 5, 2020
Mindzilla

Hamilton, ON — The massive international effort to map the entire human genome, completed in 2003, opened a new field we now know as personalised medicine. The breakthrough, which identified the...

Antibiotic Exposure can ‘Prime’ Single-Resistant Bacteria to Become Multidrug-Resistant

April 28, 2020
Mindzilla

Seattle, WA — Antibiotics save lives — but using them also helps antibiotic-resistant strains evolve and spread. Each year, antibiotic-resistant bacteria infect some 2.8 million people in the...

Transposable Elements Play Important Role in Genetic Expression and Evolution

April 16, 2020
Mindzilla

Ann Arbor, MI — Until recently, little was known about how transposable elements contribute to gene regulation. These are little pieces of DNA that can replicate themselves and spread out in the genome....

Aha! + Aaaah: Creative Insight Triggers Neural Reward Signal

April 14, 2020
Mindzilla

Philadelphia, PA — Creativity is one of humanity’s most distinctive abilities and enduring mysteries. Innovative ideas and solutions have enabled our species to survive existential threats and...

Copy/Paste and Delete — or How to Thrive Without Gene Regulation

March 10, 2020
Mindzilla

Klosterneuburg, Austria — Natural environments are constantly changing. If the change is a familiar one–like the shift from day to night or fluctuation in food supply–organisms use gene...

Research on Soldier Ants Reveals That Evolution can Go in Reverse

March 10, 2020
Mindzilla

New York, NY — Turtle ant soldiers look like real-life creatures straight out of a Japanese anime film. These tree-dwelling insects scuttle to and fro sporting shiny, adorably oversized heads, which...

Same Genes, Same Conditions, Different Transport

March 9, 2020
Mindzilla

Groningen, Netherlands — The bacterium Lactococcus lactis, which plays an important role in the dairy industry, is unable to produce the amino acid methionine and has to rely on uptake from the environment....

Why Do Men — and Other Male Animals — Tend to Die Younger? It’s All in Y Chromosome

March 5, 2020
Helen Yiu

Kensington, Australia — According to popular theory, men live shorter lives than women because they take bigger risks, have more dangerous jobs, drink and smoke more, and are poor at seeking advice...

The Brains of Shrimps and Insects Are More Alike Than We Thought

March 4, 2020
Mindzilla

Tucson, AZ — New research shows that crustaceans such as shrimps, lobsters and crabs have more in common with their insect relatives than previously thought – when it comes to the structure of...

How Three Genes Rule Plant Symbioses

March 3, 2020
Mindzilla

Norwich, UK — For billions of years life on Earth was restricted to aquatic environments, the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes. Then 450 million years ago the first plants colonized land, evolving in...

Reconstructing the Diet of Fossil Vertebrates

February 21, 2020
Mindzilla

Leipzig, Germany — Information on what our ancestors ate is based mainly on carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of the structural protein collagen in bones and dentin. Nitrogen isotope analysis, in...

Targeting Cancer Microenvironment

February 6, 2020
Mindzilla

Vienna, Austria — The recognition of bacterial infections or foreign substances is mediated and controlled by the human immune system. This innate and adaptive immune system comprises the most important...

Autoimmunity may Explain Why an Important Immune System is Absent in Many Bacteria

January 23, 2020
Mindzilla

Exeter, UK — New findings from University of Exeter researchers reveal how bacterial immune systems can be harmful for their hosts and explain why they are not found in many bacteria. CRISPR-Cas...

Scientists Find Oldest-Known Fossilized Digestive Tract — 550 Million Years

January 12, 2020
Mindzilla

Columbia, MO — A 550 million-year-old fossilized digestive tract found in the Nevada desert could be a key find in understanding the early history of animals on Earth. Over a half-billion years...

How Bacterial Evolution of Antibiotic Arsenals is Providing New Drug Blueprints

January 9, 2020
Mindzilla

Dublin, Ireland — Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have discovered that two very different species of bacteria have evolved distinct, powerful antibiotic arsenals for use in the war against their...

Greenest Diet: Bacteria Switch to Eating Carbon Dioxide

December 2, 2019
Mindzilla

Rehovot, Israel — Bacteria in the lab of Prof. Ron Milo of the Weizmann Institute of Science have not just sworn off sugar – they have stopped eating all of their normal solid food, existing instead...

Animal Embryos Evolved Before Animals, Says Study

December 1, 2019
Mindzilla

Bristol, UK — Animals evolved from single-celled ancestors, before diversifying into 30 or 40 distinct anatomical designs. When and how animal ancestors made the transition from single-celled microbes...

Researchers Say Animal-Like Embryos Preceded Animal Appearance

November 27, 2019
Mindzilla

Beijing, China — Animals evolved from single-celled ancestors before diversifying into 30-40 distinct anatomical designs. When and how animal ancestors made the transition from single-celled microbes...

Bacteria-Infecting Viruses Bind Mucosal Surface and Protect from Disease

November 25, 2019
Mindzilla

Jyväskylä, Finland — Mucosal surfaces protect organisms from external stressors and disease. Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, have been shown to preferentially bind to mucosal surfaces....

T&C

Privacy