A research team led by Profs. Zhu Min, Lu Jing, and Zhu You'an from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and ...

Researchers report that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin -- and, by extension, our large, complex brains. The team found that a retrovirus-derived genetic element or 'retrotransposon' is ...

Vertebrate morphology exhibits remarkable diversity, reflecting a complex interplay of developmental processes, genetic regulation and environmental pressures. This variation arises from a combination ...

A pair of fossilized, eel-like fish found just south of Glasgow has provided what scientists are calling the earliest known evidence of advanced, camera-like eyes in vertebrates. Dating back 443 ...

In DNA, retrotransposons can move around and insert themselves into other parts of genomes with a kind of copy and paste mechanism. Most have lost this ability in humans, but they still make up a ...

A feeding method of the extinct jawless heterostracans, among the oldest of vertebrates, has been examined and dismissed by scientists, using fresh techniques. A feeding method of the extinct jawless ...

Origin of the vertebrate dentition : teeth transform jaws into a biting force / Moya Meredith Smith and Zerina Johanson -- Flexible fins and fin rays as key transformations in ray-finned fishes / ...

Reconstructions of movement in extinct animals are critical to our understanding of major transformations in vertebrate locomotor evolution. Estimates of joint range of motion (ROM) have long been ...

Even Charles Darwin was puzzled by the evolution of the vertebrate eye. New research suggests that it traces back to a cyclopean invertebrate with a single eye atop the head. By Carl Zimmer Look at ...

Learn how increased protein diversity in signaling genes may have helped drive the shift from invertebrates to vertebrates, reshaping how animals with a spine evolved. From frogs and fish to birds and ...