Tag: Convergent Evolution

  • Nation & World

    Pitcher plants build own communities

    Harvard research has shown that the “miniature ecosystems” housed in pitcher plants from opposite sides of the world are strikingly similar, suggesting that there may be something about the plants themselves that drives the formation of those communities.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A new era in the study of evolution

    Harvard biologist Jonathan Losos talks about his new book, “Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution.”

    13 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Similar designs, 100 million years apart

    A study found that both Rusingoryx atopocranion, a relative of the wildebeest, and hadrosaur dinosaurs evolved large bony domes on their foreheads, which were likely used as resonating chambers to warn of predators and communicate with others.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Venomous bite

    Biologists have shown that independent but similar molecular changes turned a harmless digestive enzyme into a toxin in two unrelated species — a shrew and a lizard, giving each a venomous bite

    3 minutes