John Kerr • Mar 17, 2017 •
Your nose looks the way it does thanks, in part, to the climate where your ancient ancestors lived, finds new research. The new study, published today in PLOS Genetics, explores the evolutionary history of the nose, focusing on one specific question: “Has climate adaptation played an important role in influencing variation in human nose shape?” The human nose conditions the temperature and … Read More
Jean Balchin • Mar 09, 2017 •
Ancient DNA found on Neandertal teeth has revealed fascinating new insights into the behaviour, diet, use of plant-based medicine and the evolutionary history of our nearest extinct relatives. “Dental plaque traps microorganisms that lived in the mouth and pathogens found in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, as well as bits of food stuck in the teeth—preserving the DNA for … Read More
Jamie Steer • Feb 14, 2017 •
New Zealand’s trout and salmon species are here to stay and every year they are evolving to become more a part of the unique fabric of this country, both culturally and genetically. In this second post in a two part series, Dr Jamie Steer says it’s to time recognise this and celebrate our wildlife – both new and … Read More
Guest Work • Feb 13, 2017 •
New Zealand’s trout and salmon species are here to stay and every year they are evolving to become more a part of the unique fabric of this country, both culturally and genetically. In this two part series Dr Jamie Steer says it’s time to recognise this and celebrate our wildlife – both new and old. In 1895, an article … Read More
Guest Work • Dec 24, 2016 •
Meerkats – delightful, lovable fluffballs, right? Wrong – they’re actually stone-cold killers, the mammalian world’s most prolific murderers in fact, according to a study that came out in September. The scientists looked at murder rates in 1,000 mammal species, compared the meerkat (sorry) with the others, and found that one-in-five of these cuddly critters is killed in cold … Read More
Brendan Moyle • Dec 09, 2016 •
I like to keep informed about research on crocodilians, even if my work on them as waned in recent years. As is usually popularly known, crocodilians (which includes true crocodiles, as well as alligators and caimans) survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction that wiped out most dinosaurs. That leaves both birds and crocodilians as the only surviving archosaurs. We know from living … Read More
Brendan Moyle • Oct 26, 2016 •
I may be turning into a grumpy old man. But sadly the click-bait title in Stuff about NZ Spiders annoyed me. The actual article was about how fascinating NZ spiders were. Rather than fueling the irrational fear of spiders, the article assuaged it. It pointed out that NZ spiders weren’t particularity dangerous, that the common daddy-long legs was … Read More
John Kerr • Sep 22, 2016 •
Where did we come from and when did we leave there? These existential questions are at the heart of several human genetics studies published today in the leading journal Nature, all with links to New Zealand. Tracing our genetic roots The now widely accepted ‘Out of Africa’ hypothesis puts Africa as the origin of all modern humans. However, there is still debate … Read More
Guest Work • Jun 07, 2016 •
By Andrew Glikson, Australian National University Over the past year, carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels in the atmosphere have risen faster than any period in the past 55 million years. That’s the finding of my study published in Global Change Biology. From April 2015 to April 2016, CO₂ levels rose by 4.6 parts per million (ppm), reaching a … Read More
Guest Work • Apr 27, 2016 •
By Peter C. Doherty, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity A virus is essentially an information system (encoded in DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protective coat and shaped by evolution to ensure its own replication and survival. Viruses grow only in living cells. But they infect everything from the simplest, single-cell organisms, such as … Read More