Topic description and stories

Dolphin cichlid Cyrtocara moorii

How ‘supergenes’ help fish evolve into new species

12 Jun 2025

Researchers have found that chunks of ‘flipped’ DNA can help fish quickly adapt to new habitats and evolve into new species, acting as evolutionary ‘...

Read more
Left: 3D model with the jaws open; the individual bones are colour-coded to show the boundaries between them. Right: Original fossil skull of Acanthostega gunnari

Fossil skull sheds new light on transition from water to land

16 Mar 2015

The first 3D reconstruction of the skull of a 360 million-year-old near-ancestor of land vertebrates has been created by scientists.

Read more
Left: Illustration of Metaspriggina swimming. Right: Fossil of Metaspriggina from Marble Canyon – head to the left with two eyes, and branchial arches at the top.

New fossil find pinpoints the origin of jaws in vertebrates

11 Jun 2014

A major fossil discovery in Canada sheds new light on the development of the earliest vertebrates, including the origin of jaws, the first time this...

Read more