In the following fascinating story it would seem that a mutation to gene MYH16 about 2.4 million years ago might have been responsible for releasing a hitherto vice-like grip on human skull-size. Is this the crucial mutation that led to homo sapiens? Probably not. Once the human cranium had the potential to grow larger, there would have to…

Most methods of phylogenetic analysis deal with simple trees. In these phylogenies, every taxonomic unit has a single direct ancestor (or “parent”). But we know that phylogeny is often more complex than this. Our own species is an excellent example—while we are all primarily descended from one population in Africa, different peoples around the globe…

A new molecule that performs the essential function of life – self-replication – could shed light on the origin of all living things. If that wasn’t enough, the laboratory-born ribonucleic acid (RNA) strand evolves in a test tube to double itself ever more swiftly. “Obviously what we’re trying to do is make a biology,” says Gerald Joyce, a…

The details of the origin of life are unknown, but the basic principles have been established. There are basically two schools of thought which are further divided into many about the origin of life. One suggests that organic components arrived on Earth from space, while the other argues that they originated on Earth.

Harvard’s Andy Knoll is content studying a puzzle that may never be solved: Exactly how did life on Earth begin? Enlarge Photo credit: Courtesy of Andy Knoll. What are the origins of life? How did things go from non-living to living? From something that could not reproduce to something that could? One person who has exhaustively investigated…

1.0 The Beginning The planet Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old. During the initial 0.7 billion years following its formation, the early Earth was heavily bombarded by solar system materials, such as comets and asteroid-sized objects. The energy released by the largest impacts was sufficient to evaporate the oceans and destroy any existing life…

The brain is our main sexual organ. It controls everything: from sex drive and pleasure to sexual orientation. Now a team at the University of Utah has even managed to induce homosexuality! Not in humans, but in nematode worms. “They look like girls, but act and think like boys. The [same-sex attraction] behavior is part…