In 1971, biologists moved five adult pairs of Italian wall lizards from their home island of Pod Kopiste, in the South Adriatic Sea, to the neighboring island of Pod Mrcaru. Now, an international team of researchers has shown that introducing these small, green-backed lizards, Podarcis sicula, to a new environment caused them to undergo rapid and large-scale evolutionary changes. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Two professors propose an inte-grated and dramatic mechanism for the formation of kimberlites, the enigmatic structures bearing most of the world’s diamonds. Their theory explains many puzzling features of the formations and also suggests that the location of kimberlites is not related to near-surface geology. picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

Small skink lizards, Lerista, demonstrate extensive changes in body shape over geologically brief periods. Research published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology shows that several species of these skinks have rapidly evolved an elongate, limbless body form. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has helped astronomers solve a longstanding mystery as to why a small, nearby, isolated galaxy is pumping out new stars faster than any galaxy in our local neighborhood. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Scientists have long suspected that the sex chromosome that only males carry could disappear entirely (within a few million years, don't worry), but they didn't know why.
Now, it's discovered that this sex chromosome, the Y chromosome, has evolved at a much more rapid pace than the X chromosome, which both males and females carry.
UPDATE TO THIS picked by Bingo 4 months ago

Sleeping on a problem really can help solve it say scientists who found a dreamy nap boosts creative powers. picked by AutumnLotus 6 months ago

" The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined.
Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture." picked by addoccini 2 years ago

An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped.

Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence of rapid change in the region. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

Acting as super-predators, humans are forcing changes to body size and reproductive abilities in some species 300 percent faster than would occur naturally, a new study finds picked by Bornbad 11 months ago

We may be running out of dirt.

That's not just a problem for farmers, that carbon ends up in the atmosphere, contributing to climate change, which then exacerbates other food-growing issues such as drought or floods and extreme temperatures. Plus, degraded soils spur farmers to clear more land, contributing to the rapid destruction of the world's forests, further exacerbating climate change. picked by Bingo 4 months ago

In Steve McConnell’s book Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules, he defines “classic mistakes” as mistakes that have been made so often, by so many people, that the consequences of making these mistakes should be predictable and the mistakes should be avoidable. These 10 mistakes are reported to be most damaging. picked by theclansman 9 months ago

BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) is getting a reputation world wide as a place for crimes against humanity. This story ended better than most. picked by Bornbad 9 months ago

Rapid increases in high-fructose corn syrup prices will encourage a return to sugar usage, says WSJ. picked by deepcleanfun 2 years ago

After inadvertently offending a strange entity that accosts him on his way to work, a 1970s businessman quickly finds himself in the midst if a bizarre predicament. What follows is a rapid descent into madness, a journey both eerie and darkly humorous. picked by misswinkle 2 years ago

Judy Stanley embarked on a drastic change of lifestyle and lost eight stones in 12 months after switching to a diet of fresh fruit, vegetables and red meat.
But her rapid weight loss meant she needed a new prosthetic limb almost every month as her remaining leg shrunk in size. picked by bingo 6 months ago

A Dallas homeowner has been fighting Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) for $5,000 that he claims the agency owes him because they caused flooding to his rent house. Finally, the 89-year-old won the case, but DART is appealing. Also, e-mails uncovered from the former chair of DART reveal a disturbing trend within the agency. picked by 7mmantle 1 year ago

A dramatic shift in how we gather information and communicate with one another has touched off an era of rapid evolution that may ultimately change the human brain as we know it picked by stinkobinko 1 year ago

Large areas of northern Russia, Canada, Nordic countries and Alaska have deep layers of frozen soil near the surface called permafrost. Global warming has already triggered rapid melting of the permafrost in some areas, releasing carbon dioxide and methane.

Update to this story. picked by kakana 5 months ago

Evolution is supposed to inch forward over eons, but sometimes, at least in the case of a little fish called the threespine stickleback, the process can go in relative warp-speed reverse, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and published online ahead of print in the May 20 issue of Current Biology. picked by mutil8or 2 years ago

Dyslexia marked by poor reading fluency — slow and choppy reading — may be caused by disorganized, meandering tracts of nerve fibers in the brain, according to researchers. Their study, using the latest imaging methods, gives researchers a glimpse of what may go wrong in the structure of some dyslexic readers’ brains that makes it difficult to integrate the information needed for... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago