evolution
How attracting multiple mates affects flirting fads in birds
Feb. 22, 2019—For many species, extravagant displays are a critical part of attracting a mate. Think of a peacock’s long tail or a songbird’s elaborate melody. When considering these populations, scientists at Vanderbilt University wondered if they could use new methods to test a theory that has been around for almost 150 years: that having multiple reproductive...
Interdisciplinary approach yields new insights into human evolution
Feb. 12, 2018—Vanderbilt biologist Nicole Creanza is the guest editor of a new themed issue of "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B" highlighting interdisciplinary approaches to understanding human evolution.
Vanderbilt evolutionary biologist makes finals of a national award for young scientists
Jun. 6, 2017—Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor in Biological Sciences Antonis Rokas has been selected as a finalist for the $250,000 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists
Climate change helped kill off super-sized Ice Age animals in Australia
Jan. 26, 2017—A new study has compared the diet of a variety of Australian megafaunal herbivores from the period when they were widespread (350,000 to 570,000 years ago) to a period when they were in decline (30,000 to 40,000 years ago) by studying their fossil teeth. The analysis suggests that climate change had a significant impact on their diets and may well have been a primary factor in their extinction.
Each animal species hosts a unique microbial community and benefits from it
Nov. 28, 2016—A laboratory study of four animal species and their microbiota finds that each species hosts a unique community of microbes that can significantly improve its health and fitness.
Transcription factor evolution
Aug. 11, 2016—Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a novel model of evolution for factors that control gene expression.
Discovery of male-harming DNA mutation reinforces ‘mother’s curse’ hypothesis
Aug. 2, 2016—There is new evidence that the "mother’s curse" – the possibility that moms may transmit genes to their children that harm their sons but not their daughters – holds true in animals.
Newly discovered fossils strengthen proposition that world’s first mass extinction engineered by early animals
Jul. 29, 2016—New fossil evidence strengthens the proposition that the world’s first mass extinction was caused by ‘ecosystem engineers’ – newly evolved organisms that radically altered the environment.
Neanderthal DNA has subtle but significant impact on human traits
Feb. 11, 2016—The first study that directly compares Neanderthal DNA in the genomes of a significant population of adults of European ancestry with their clinical records confirms that this archaic genetic legacy has a subtle but significant impact on modern human biology.
Evidence that Earth’s first mass extinction was caused by critters, not catastrophe
Sep. 2, 2015—The Earth's first mass extinction event 540 million years ago was caused not by a meteorite impact or volcanic super-eruption, but by the rise of early animals that dramatically changed to prehistoric environment.
The pronoun ‘I’ is becoming obsolete
Aug. 19, 2015—Recent microbiological research has shown that plants and animals, including humans, are not autonomous individuals but are holobionts: biomolecular networks that consist of visible hosts plus millions of invisible microbes.
Evolutionary history of whales, dolphins and sea turtles
Apr. 17, 2015—The evolutionary history of whales, sea turtles and other land animals that have returned to the sea details the radical changes to their life style, body shape, physiology that they made to survive in an aquatic environment.