charles darwin

(Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) Theodosius Dobzhansky, the late great geneticist and evolutionary biologist, said it best: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) As Charles Darwin showed nearly 150 years ago, bird beaks are exquisitely adapted to the birds' feeding strategy.

A team of MIT mathematicians and engineers has now explained exactly how some shorebirds use their long, thin beaks to defy gravity and transport food into their mouths.

In the first experiment of its kind conducted in nature, evolutionary biologists have come up with strong evidence for one of Charles Darwin's cornerstone ideas -- adaptation to the environment accelerates the creation of new species.

Charles Darwin maintained that the domesticated chicken descended from the red jungle fowl, but new research now shows that the wild origins of the chicken are more complicated.

The researchers mapped the genes that give most domesticated chickens yellow legs and found, to their surprise, that this genetic heredity derives from a closely related species -- the gray jungle fowl.

It is most likely the case that the gray jungle fowl was crossed with an early form of the domesticated chicken.

Charles Darwin maintained that the domesticated chicken derives from the red jungle fowl, but new research from now shows that the wild origins of the chicken are more complicated.

The researchers mapped the genes that give most domesticated chickens yellow legs and found to their surprise that this genetic heredity derives from a closely related species, the gray jungle fowl.

It is most likely the case that the gray jungle fowl was crossed with an early form of the domesticated chicken.