Evolution has reused the same genes for 120 million years, study shows
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-May-2026 21:15 ET (4-May-2026 01:15 GMT/UTC)
New research led by Flinders University argues thick tooth enamel helped kangaroos chart an unconventional evolution story, compared to the animals of other continents.
A 50-million-year natural ‘experiment’ among Australia’s marsupials suggests that the outcomes of evolution are far from certain.
The enzyme RNA polymerase reads a DNA template to build RNA one nucleotide at a time, but how it performs its core chemistry is unresolved. New cryo-EM structures capture the enzyme in intermediate states, showing for the first time that RNA polymerase catalyzes reactions through the precise alignment of substrates and using a coordinated chain of water molecules that act as a proton shuttle. Because this mechanism is conserved across all life, the findings provide a universal blueprint for gene expression and explain how certain mutations disrupt transcription.
A major new report published today warns that nature loss is not just an environmental issue, it is already disrupting our food system, threatening catastrophic impacts on our economy and society. The report has been produced by the UK’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and Anglia Ruskin University.
Silencing a major cellular stress signal could be the key to a longer life, according to new University of Sheffield research.
Researchers have developed a new way to understand how cells survive heat stress by tracking how genes shift under changing temperatures. Studying skin fibroblasts from humans and heat-adapted one-humped camels, they created models of gene interactions using small datasets by measuring the magnitude of gene changes rather than simple on/off responses. Findings reveal that camels exhibit stronger cellular resilience than humans, offering new insight into heat adaptation and a powerful tool for studying environmental stress biology and ecological responses to environmental change.
30 April 2026 / Kiel / Mindelo. Tomorrow, fourteen Master’s students in the West African Master’s programme ‘Climate Change and Marine Sciences’ will begin their two-week training and research voyage aboard the research vessel POLARSTERN. Travelling from Mindelo in Cabo Verde to Bremerhaven, Germany, they will carry out physical, biogeochemical and biological measurements together with ten experienced scientists. This is the fourth time that the Floating University is taking place under the leadership of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. This initiative significantly contributes to the goals of the UN Decade of Ocean Science and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the WASCAL programme (West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use).