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Dogs likely originated in Europe more than 18,000 years ago, UCLA biologists report

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2013Nature, Scienceancient dog fossil, ancient hunter, carnivore, co evolutionary process, coyotes, daniel greenfield, dog, dog like animals, dogs from europe, domestic dogs, druid peak, east asia, Europe, european hunter, european wolves, evolutionary biology, finland, fossil, genetic analysis, genetic data, illinois, klaus koepfli, koster archaeological site, late pleistocene, middle east, middle east origin, migration, mitochondrial dna, modern dogs, North America, olaf thalmann, old world, origin, proximity to humans, robert wayne, species, two wolves, ucla biologist, university of turku, western russia, wolf like animals, yellowstone national park

Wolves likely were domesticated by European hunter–gatherers more than 18,000 years ago and gradually evolved into dogs that became household pets, UCLA life scientists report.

“We found that instead of recent wolves being closest to domestic dogs, ancient European wolves were directly related to them,” said Robert Wayne, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in UCLA’s College of Letters and Science and senior author of the research. “This brings the genetic record into agreement with the archaeological record. Europe is where the oldest dogs are found.” (more…)

New device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes

By Guest PostJune 11, 2013Scienceblood, conventional methods, environmentally friendly, extract, genetic data, human dna, human fluid samples, jae hyun chung, knr systems, korean manufacturer, large scale handling, micro filter, microscopic probes, minutes, nanofacture, new device, olympia, prototype, saliva, sang gyeun ahn, sputum, Technology, toxic chemicals, university of washington

Take a swab of saliva from your mouth and within minutes your DNA could be ready for analysis and genome sequencing with the help of a new device.

University of Washington engineers and NanoFacture, a Bellevue, Wash., company, have created a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods. (more…)

The Black Sea is a Goldmine of Ancient Genetic Data

By Guest PostMay 28, 2013Environmentblack sea, brackish black sea, dna sequencing, genetic data, genetic makeup, plankton paleome, pyrosequencing, sediment record

New Study Reconstructs the Past Ocean ‘Paleome’

When Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) marine paleoecologist Marco Coolen was mining through vast amounts of genetic data from the Black Sea sediment record, he was amazed about the variety of past plankton species that left behind their genetic makeup (i.e., the plankton paleome). (more…)

Placental Mammal Diversity Blossomed After Age of Dinosaurs

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2013Nature, Scienceafrica today, afrotheria, age of dinosaurs, american museum, americas, amnh, andrea cirranello, anthropologist, boundary, branching history, brazil, cloud based, common ancestor, cretaceous age mammal, cretaceous paleogene extinction, cretaceous terrestrial revolution, cyberinfrastructure, diversification, dna sequence data, earth, elephants to aardvarks, encoded by dna, evolutionary history, evolutionary trees, extinct biotic groups, federal university, fernando perini, fossil species, fossils and anatomy, fragmentation of gondwana, genetic, genetic data, genomic data, genomics based model, h richard lane, insect eating animal, john wible, kpg event, late cretaceous, mammal relationships, marcelo weksler, mary silcox, massive dataset, maureen oleary, mesozoic era, michael novacek, minas gerais, molecular clock, molecules and morphology, morphobank, nancy simmons, national museum, national science foundation, natural history, non avian dinosaurs, nsf, optimization, paleontologist, phenomic data, phenomic matrix, phenomic systems, phylophenomics, physical traits, placental mammal diversity, placental mammal tree, publicly accessible database, robb brumfield, scarborough, stony brook university, time of origin, tree of life, university of toronto, well preserved fossils

Scientists build new ‘tree of life’ for placentals, visualize common ancestor

Scientists have reconstructed the common ancestor of placental mammals–an extremely diverse group including animals ranging from rodents to whales to humans–using the world’s largest dataset of both genetic and physical traits. (more…)

Blades and Clades: Why Some Grasses Got Better Photosynthesis

By Guest PostDecember 25, 2012Scienceagriculture, anatomical difference, anatomical traits, ancestral state reconstruction, atmospheric co2, bep clade, blades, bundle sheath cells, c3, c4, c4 evolution, cellular anatomy, clades, david chatelet, dry condition, erika edwards, evolutionary time scale, evolutionary tree, genetic data, grasses, laura garrison, lineage, mesophyll cells, pacmad clade, pascal antoine christin, photosynthesis, physiology

Two groups — clades — of grasses that once had a common ancestry diverged. The PACMAD clade was predisposed to evolve a more efficient “C4” means of photosynthesis than grasses in the BEP clade. In a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a Brown-led team pinpoints the anatomical differences between the clades that led to the PACMAD’s tendency toward C4.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Even on the evolutionary time scale of tens of millions of years there is such a thing as being in the right shape at the right time. An anatomical difference in the ability to seize the moment, according to a study led by Brown University biologists, explains why more species in one broad group, or clade, of grasses evolved a more efficient means of photosynthesis than species in another clade. (more…)

Evolution of Religious Patriarchy as a Mate-Guarding Strategy?

By Guest PostJune 15, 2012Culture, Scienceadultery, african population, african society, beverly strassmann, Bible, biological anthropologist, brenda gillespie, brendan hugg, christianity, contraception, cuckoldry, dogon belief, dogon people, dogon practice, eneticist, erin burke, evolution, female sexuality, fertility status, fidelity, genetic data, ideology, indigenous, islam, Mali, menstrual huts, menstrual taboos, michael hammer, monotheistic religion, nikhil kurapati, pollution, quran, rates of cuckoldry, religious patriarchy, religious practices, sacred texts, tatiana karafet, traditional, united states, university of arizona, university of michigan, village, virginity, west africa, word of god, y dna mismatch

One of the largest and longest studies in a traditional African society sheds light on religious practices and cuckoldry. Genetic data suggest religious patriarchy is directly analogous to the mate-guarding tactics used by animals to ensure paternity.

Religious practices that strongly control female sexuality are more successful at promoting certainty about paternity, according to a study published in the June 4, 2012 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In an interdisciplinary collaboration, a group of researchers around biological anthropologist Beverly Strassmann from the University of Michigan and University of Arizona geneticist Michael Hammer analyzed genetic data on 1,706 father-son pairs in a traditional African population – the Dogon people of Mali, West Africa – in which Islam, two types of Christianity and an indigenous, monotheistic religion are practiced in the same families and villages. (more…)

Fossil Discovery Represents New Milestone in Early Mammal Evolution

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2011Nature, Scienceancestors of mammals, carnegie mammalogist, carnegie museum of natural history, China, chong xi yuan, chuck lydeard, dna based methods of dating evolution, earliest known fossil of eutherians, eomaia, eutherian mammals, evolutionary hypotheses, fossil, fossil record, genetic data, john wible, juramaia sinensis, jurassic, jurassic mother from china, kangaroos, mammal evolution, marsupials, metatherians, molecular clock, monotremes, national science foundation, northeast china fossil, nsf, paleontologist, placental mammals, platypus, qiang ji, qing jin meng, shrew like mammal, zhe xi luo

*Northeast China fossil provides new information about earliest ancestors of today’s mammals*

A well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today’s mammal species–the placental mammals. (more…)

Rare Deep-Water Giant Squid from South Florida Brought to UF for Research

By Guest PostJune 29, 2011Nature, Sciencearchiteuthis dux, biogeography, chromatophores, color bearing cells, ecology, florida fish and wildlife conservation commission, florida museum of natural history, gainesville campus, genetic data, genetic work, giant squid, invertebrates, japanese film crew, jensen beach, joey asaro, john slapcinsky, paleontologist, paul peroulakis, pigment cells, recreational fishermen, reproduction, robert benz, roger portell, sea monsters, smithsonian institution, specimen, sperm whales, squid, university of florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida researchers received a rare 25-foot-long, deep-water giant squid Monday, the only one of its kind in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Recovered by recreational fishermen who found the creature floating on the surface about 12 miles offshore from Jensen Beach Sunday, museum scientists collected the specimen from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Tequesta Field Laboratory in Palm Beach County and returned to the Gainesville campus late Monday. (more…)

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