Evolution Diary

‘Humongous fungus’ towered over all life on land
Scientists at the University of Chicago and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., have produced new evidence to finally resolve the mysterious identity of what they regard as one of the weirdest organisms that ever lived. (…)

Not good news at all for biology and science in general…
THE “Atlas of Creation” runs to 770 pages and is lavishly illustrated with photographs of fossils and living animals, interlaced with quotations from the Koran. (…)

Differences 2 to 3 times greater than variation among human populations
The largest study to date of genetic variation among chimpanzees has found that the traditional, geography-based sorting of chimps into three populations—western, central and eastern—is underpinned by significant genetic differences, two to three times greater than the variation between the most different human populations. (…)

Researchers discover that the centralised nervous system of vertebrates is much older than expected
The rise of the central nervous system (CNS) in animal evolution has puzzled scientists for centuries. (…)

Too much sun may mean sexual inequality for an Australian desert lizard, with higher temperatures changing males into females while still in the egg. (…)