A New Study Has Identified a Dominant Force Driving Evolution on Earth Today

Mounting evidence suggests humans are now a major driving force of evolution on Earth. From selective breeding to environmental modifications, we’re altering so much of our world that we’re not only now driving the climate, but the direction of life itself.   Now, in a massive project involving 287 scientists across 160 cities in 26 … Read more

Australia Just Listed The Iconic Koala as ‘Endangered’ in Several States

Australia officially listed koalas across a swathe of its eastern coast as “endangered” on Friday, with the marsupials fighting to survive the impact of bushfires, land-clearing, drought and disease.   Conservationists said koala populations had crashed in much of eastern Australia over the past two decades, warning that they were now sliding towards extinction. Environment … Read more

Some People in Greenland Metabolize Sugars Differently

For millennia, populations in Greenland enjoyed a relatively sugar-free diet. Without the need to rapidly process certain carbohydrates, many lost the function of a key sucrose-processing enzyme.   To learn what this loss means for the health of today’s populations, a team of researchers led by scientists from the University of Copenhagen analyzed the health … Read more

Archaeologists Find 2,000-Year-Old Lesson on Sea Level Changes Destroying Societies

Archaeologists have linked rising and lowering sea levels in the Atlantic Ocean to the ebbs and flows of ancient civilizations in southern Brazil. The findings, which incorporate several lines of past archaeological evidence, suggest even large, resilient, and cooperative coastal communities can easily go out with the tide.   When analyzing and dating a series … Read more

Research in experimental lake shows fish populations can recover quickly from mercury contamination | Science

Mercury pollution is a global problem. Emissions from gold mining, coal burning, and other industrial processes travel through the atmosphere, eventually falling to Earth as rain or snow. The poison can make its way to fish and the humans who eat them, where it can damage the developing nervous system, causing problems with memory and … Read more