Human ancestor 1.2 million-years-old found: The remains of human ancestors who lived around 1.2 million years ago have been unearthed in Spain. [Telegraph]
Evolving the Wow! Factor: Adaptation is the “wow!” factor of nature: when we see something spectacular or exquisite, we are typically looking at an adaptation. And what underpins adaptation is the appearance and spread of beneficial mutations: the process is not possible without them. [NYT]
Sluggish Reptile Breaks Speedy Evolution Record: One of the world’s most laid-back animals, the tuatara, may be the fastest evolving creature on Earth, according to a paper in this month’s Trends in Genetics. The lizard-like reptile’s DNA changes naturally at a rate faster than has been observed in any other animal: 1.56 changes per nucleotide (DNA subunit) every million years. [Discovery]
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