[ad_1] The Oikopleura dioica, a small organism found in marine plankton, has been a model animal in genetic and evolutionary studies for years. It is a tiny animal, with a short and rapid life cycle, very prolific, with a fully sequenced genome and easy to maintain in the laboratory. It is a benchmark in the […]
All animal intelligence was shaped by just 5 leaps in brain evolution
[ad_1] The animal world is full of different types of intelligence, from the simple bodily coordination of jellyfish to the navigation abilities of bees, the complex songs of birds and the imaginative symbolic thought of humans. In an article published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, we argue the evolution of all these […]
How fluctuating oxygen levels may have accelerated animal evolution — ScienceDaily
[ad_1] Oxygen levels in the Earth’s atmosphere are likely to have “fluctuated wildly” one billion years ago, creating conditions that could have accelerated the development of early animals, say researchers. Scientists believe atmospheric oxygen developed in three stages, starting with what is known as the Great Oxidation Event around two billion years ago, when oxygen first appeared in […]