Search Results for: Vertebrates
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1,512 results
- Tech
Unlocking the Gaits: Robot tests locomotion switch
A blocky, bright-yellow robot that would look at home in a toy chest moves like a salamander, just as its inventors intended.
- Paleontology
Bumpy Bones: Fossil hints that dinosaur had feathery forearms
A series of knobs on the forearm bone of a 1.5-meter-long velociraptor provides the first direct evidence of substantial feathers on a dinosaur of that size.
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Protein Lineages: Randomness was crucial to ancient genetic changes
Reconstruction of an ancient protein shows how seemingly unimportant mutations paved the way for its evolution into a molecule with an essential modern role.
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All in the Family
Contrary to popular belief, species of salamanders, birds, beetles and fish prefer to mate with close kin.
- Animals
Bite This: Borrowed toad toxins save snake’s neck
An Asian snake gets toxins by salvaging them from the poisonous toads it eats.
- Paleontology
Twice upon a Time
New fossil finds suggest that the complex features of mammals originated earlier than previously thought and might even have evolved independently in different mammalian lineages.
- Animals
New candidates for smallest vertebrate
Two recent scientific papers have described fish species that could, depending on the definition, be the world's smallest known vertebrate.
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Consciousness in the Raw
Observations of children born without most of the brain's outer layer, or cortex, and evidence from animal studies suggest that a basic form of consciousness may arise from the brain stem alone.
- Humans
European chemical legislation adopted
A groundbreaking chemical law, passed by the European Parliament on Dec. 13, is set to fundamentally change the evaluation and production of chemicals used throughout the European Union. The Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) law, which will go into effect in June 2007, takes a different approach than current U.S. policy does. It […]
- Animals
No-Dad Dragons: Komodos reproduce without males
Two female Komodo dragons in zoos have startled their keepers by laying viable eggs without males, possibly as a last resort at a time when mates are in increasingly short supply.
- Health & Medicine
A Different Side of Estrogen
Understanding estrogen's function is complicated by the fact that it can bind to two distinct receptors; scientists studying the second receptor now think that drugs targeting it could help a wide variety of ailments.
- Paleontology
DNA analysis reveals extinct type of wolf
New genetic analyses of the remains of gray wolves found in Alaska indicate that a distinct subpopulation of that species disappeared at the end of the last ice age, possibly because of its dietary habits.
