evolution

Genetic mechanism found for fish adaptations to pollution

By Eric Sorensen, WSU science writer PULLMAN, Wash. – A Washington State University biologist has found the genetic mechanism that lets a fish live in toxic, acidic water. The discovery opens new insights into the functioning of other “extremophiles” and how they adapt to their challenging environments.

Study: Environmental epigenetics affects disease, evolution

By Eric Sorensen, WSU science writer PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University researchers say environmental factors are having an underappreciated effect on the course of disease and evolution by prompting genetic mutations through epigenetics, a process by which genes are turned on and off independent of an organism’s DNA sequence.

New age for Panama closure challenges long-held theories

PULLMAN, Wash. – The Panama Isthmus is so strategic that more than 100 years ago global powers France and the United States took on the monumental task of constructing the Panama Canal. They sought to shorten transit times between Asia, Europe and the Americas by re-joining the Pacific and Caribbean seas. If you want to […]

‘Darwin and Intelligent Design’ philosophy lecture canceled

By Adriana Aumen, College of Arts & Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – Presentations about the struggle between Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and intelligent design for the 53rd Frank Fraser Potter Memorial Lecture in Philosophy and the Potter Talk on Thursday, March 12, have been canceled due to speaker injury. They might be rescheduled in the […]

Oct. 28: Authors to discuss nature’s wisdom, agriculture

By Sylvia Kantor, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – A free, public symposium, “Saving Nature and Improving Agriculture: Where Does Nature’s Wisdom Lie?” will begin at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, in the CUB junior ballroom at Washington State University Pullman.

Researcher sees survival story in fly’s small genome

By Eric Sorensen, WSU science writer PULLMAN, Wash. – Few animals can boast of being as tough as the Antarctic midge. Its larvae develop over not one but two Antarctic winters, losing nearly half their body mass each time. It endures high winds, salt and intense ultraviolet radiation. As an adult, the midge gets by […]

Bee ‘shouts’ might evolve as more effective than ‘whispers’

PULLMAN, Wash. – Let’s say you’re a bee and you’ve spotted a new and particularly lucrative source of nectar and pollen. What’s the best way to communicate the location of this prize cache of food to the rest of your nestmates without revealing it to competitors, or “eavesdropping” spies, outside of the colony?

International team sequences rainbow trout genome

By Eric Sorensen, WSU science writer PULLMAN, Wash. – Using fish bred at Washington State University, an international team of researchers has mapped the genetic profile of the rainbow trout, a versatile salmonid whose relatively recent genetic history opens a window into how vertebrates evolve.