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A focus on the sharp edge of manufactured stone flakes reveals increasing control and efficiency over a 2-million-year dataset, and fosters replicable, standardized methods in lithic analysis. But scaling this method up to more complex stone tools may require further thought.
Genomes from hunter-gatherers dated to around 9,000 years ago reveal two early postglacial migrations into Scandinavia: an initial migration from the south and a second coastal migration north of the Scandinavian ice sheet.
The genome of the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), a parthenogenetic fish species, shows little genetic decay and a high degree of diversity. The genetic health of this asexual vertebrate is surprising given the accumulation of genomic damage that is expected to follow from asexual reproduction.
Allowing biogeographical data to evolve at varying rates on a globe, not a plane, reveals new insights into the origin and dispersal of dinosaurs. The method could also be applied to manifold organisms, from humans to influenza viruses.
Control of gene activity through transcriptional regulatory elements is a major driving force in human evolution. A new study measures nascent transcription directly and shows that sequence, activity and three-dimensional organization of transcriptional regulatory elements all contribute to the evolution of gene activity within primate CD4+ T cells.
A dataset that links geographical occurrences, phylogenies, fossils and climate reconstructions for more than 10,000 vertebrate species reveals accelerated rates of climate niche evolution in warm-blooded animals.
For natural ecosystems, the speed of climate change is what matters most. If stratospheric climate geoengineering is deployed but not sustained, its impacts on species and communities could be far worse than the damage averted.
Large-scale analysis of faunal similarity reveals the interconnectedness of Miocene savannah ecosystems, but also the need for more fossils to fill the gaps in the African palaeontological record.
The genome of the extinct thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, has been sequenced from a 109-year-old museum specimen. The sequence resolves the phylogenetic placement of the species and reveals details of convergent evolution between the thylacine and eutherian canines.
The US beef industry is a major contributor of greenhouse gases and is commonly regarded as unsustainable at current levels. A new study models a system in which sustainability could be increased by subsistence on grass and agricultural by-products, prompting the question, ‘what are the limits of sustainable livestock production in the US’?
The application of a species-extinction model allows improved determination of the timing of phenological events, and increases the breadth of data types that can be mined and compared in phenology research.
Emerging research suggests ancient Amazonians employed a range of cultivation practices to develop diversified diets, rich in both wild and domesticated plant and animal resources. Southwestern Amazonia is now understood as a major centre of plant domestication.
Phylogenetic data infer temporal clustering of immigration and re-diversification of Australian lizards and snakes, suggesting that climatic and geological changes may have precipitated re-assemblies of this vertebrate group.
A survey of plant and animal sightings, feeding interactions and carbon cycling across 4.8 million hectares provides evidence for the role of multitrophic biodiversity and interactions in large-scale biogeochemical dynamics in the Amazon.
The quantitative genetics of reproduction and lifespan in a Utah population from the 1800s reveal no support for any of the three most prominent hypotheses invoked for why women live so long past menopause.
Comb jellies are remarkably different from other animals. Phylogenetic analyses of broadly sampled ctenophore transcriptome data provide additional evidence that they are the sister group to all other animals and reveal details of their evolutionary relationships to each other.
The immune system must distinguish self from non-self, but an imbalanced reaction in either direction can lead to immunopathology or severe infection. A new model incorporating host life history predicts which error will be more tolerated.
