Hacker News with Generative AI: Evolution

What if Eye...? (eyes.mit.edu)
We created a virtual petri dish where digital creatures evolve eyes from scratch, replaying millions of years of evolution.
Evolution, Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Computer Science
411 points by smusamashah 8 days ago | 91 comments
Birds have developed complex brains independently from mammals (phys.org)
Two studies published in the latest issue of Science have revealed that birds, reptiles, and mammals have developed complex brain circuits independently, despite sharing a common ancestor.
Evolution, Neuroscience, Biology, Birds, Mammals
32 points by ftrobro 8 days ago | 6 comments
Ear muscle we thought humans didn't use activates when people listen hard (frontiersin.org)
If you can wiggle your ears, you can use muscles that helped our distant ancestors listen closely.
Human Biology, Evolution, Science, Hearing
247 points by geox 21 days ago | 197 comments
Tiny algae shaped the evolution of giant clams (colorado.edu)
Giant clams, some of the largest mollusks on Earth, have long fascinated scientists. These impressive creatures can grow up to 4.5 feet in length and weigh over 700 pounds, making them icons of tropical coral reefs.
Biology, Evolution, Marine Biology, Giant Clams
9 points by gmays 22 days ago | 0 comments
Giant, Mysterious Spires Ruled the Earth Long Before Trees Did (smithsonianmag.com)
When land plants were still the relatively new kids on the evolutionary block and the world’s tallest trees reached only a few feet in height, giant spires of life poked from the Earth.
Paleontology, Earth Science, Ancient Life, Evolution
20 points by Brajeshwar 30 days ago | 4 comments
Why did a frozen Earth coincide with an evolutionary spurt? (colorado.edu)
CU Boulder geologists Lizzy Trower and Carl Simpson win $1 million in support from W.M. Keck Foundation to try to solve an evolutionary puzzle and to extend Earth’s temperature record by 2 billion years
Earth Science, Evolution, Geology, Research Funding
4 points by isaacfrond 39 days ago | 3 comments
The Great Filter Comes for Us All (codinghorror.com)
With a 13 billion year head start on evolution, why haven't any other forms of life in the universe contacted us by now?
Space Exploration, Evolution
12 points by mooreds 45 days ago | 5 comments
Stone selection by wild chimpanzees shares patterns with Oldowan hominins (sciencedirect.com)
The use of broad tool repertoires to increase dietary flexibility through extractive foraging behaviors is shared by humans and their closest living relatives (chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes).
Chimpanzees, Archaeology, Tool Use, Animal Behavior, Evolution
36 points by benbreen 45 days ago | 4 comments
Software creators are the new content creators (workingtheorys.com)
No, this isn’t the end of software, but it is the beginning of a new software era. And I like the media industry analogy, but it’s an evolution, not a death.
Software Development, Content Creation, Media Industry, Evolution
10 points by antelopetracks 47 days ago | 3 comments
70 Years of Height Evolution in the NBA (runrepeat.com)
“You can’t teach height” -  Red Auerbach
Sports, Basketball, NBA, History, Evolution
13 points by belter 48 days ago | 0 comments
Scientists Re-Create the Microbial Dance That Sparked Complex Life (quantamagazine.org)
Evolution was fueled by endosymbiosis, cellular alliances in which one microbe makes a permanent home inside another. For the first time, biologists made it happen in the lab.
Science, Biology, Evolution, Microbiology
25 points by isaacfrond 49 days ago | 1 comments
Scientists Re-Create the Microbial Dance That Sparked Complex Life (quantamagazine.org)
Evolution was fueled by endosymbiosis, cellular alliances in which one microbe makes a permanent home inside another. For the first time, biologists made it happen in the lab.
Biology, Evolution, Science, Microbes
12 points by billybuckwheat 50 days ago | 0 comments
How Did the "Smile" Become a Friendly Gesture in Humans? (scientificamerican.com)
Human Behavior, Evolution, Communication, Psychology
6 points by thunderbong 59 days ago | 1 comments
Cultural Evolution of Cooperation Among LLM Agents (arxiv.org)
Large language models (LLMs) provide a compelling foundation for building generally-capable AI agents.
Artificial Intelligence, Cooperation, Evolution
246 points by Anon84 65 days ago | 131 comments
Why do animals adopt? (nautil.us)
Taking responsibility for another’s young reveals the deep evolutionary roots of care.
Animal Behavior, Evolution, Parenting
47 points by dnetesn 73 days ago | 53 comments
What fossilized dino feces can tell us about their rise to dominance (arstechnica.com)
Paleontologists have long puzzled over how the dinosaurs—originally relatively small and of minor importance to the broader ecosystem—evolved to become the dominant species some 30 million years later. Fossilized feces and vomit from dinosaurs might hold important clues to how and why this evolutionary milestone came about, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature.
Paleontology, Dinosaurs, Evolution, Science
21 points by Brajeshwar 85 days ago | 3 comments
All Life on Earth Today Descended from a Single Cell. Meet LUCA (quantamagazine.org)
The clearest picture yet of our “last universal common ancestor” suggests it was a relatively complex organism living 4.2 billion years ago, a time long considered too harsh for life to flourish.
Evolution, Biology, Science
58 points by EA-3167 93 days ago | 15 comments
How human brains got so big: cells learned to handle stress that comes with size (nature.com)
Humans have evolved disproportionately large brains compared with our primate relatives — but this neurological upgrade came at a cost. Scientists exploring the trade-off have discovered unique genetic features that show how human brain cells handle the stress of keeping a big brain working. The work could inspire new lines of research to understand conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.
Evolution, Neuroscience, Genetics, Brain Health
7 points by bookofjoe 94 days ago | 0 comments
Bird brain from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of avian intelligence (cam.ac.uk)
A ‘one of a kind’ fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the most enduring mysteries of vertebrate evolution.
Paleontology, Evolution, Birds, Dinosaurs, Neuroscience
124 points by gmays 95 days ago | 6 comments
Why are Indian and African wildlife so similar? (wanderingthru.com)
How and why is Indian and African wildlife so similar? This is a question that we as guides often get asked when guests are interested in exploring these two special places. This not only includes the large mammals, but birds and vegetation too.
Wildlife, India, Africa, Evolution, Biodiversity
6 points by rkwz 96 days ago | 3 comments
Mitochondria Are Alive (asimov.press)
The cells within our body are the remnants of an ancient alliance.
Biology, Science, Evolution
638 points by mailyk 105 days ago | 389 comments
The egg or the chicken? An ancient unicellular says egg (unige.ch)
A cell division resembling that of an animal embryo has been observed in a prehistoric unicellular organism, suggesting that embryonic development might have existed prior to the evolution of animals.
Evolution, Biology, Science, Cellular Biology
71 points by giuliomagnifico 106 days ago | 84 comments
World’s oldest tree? Genetic analysis traces evolution of iconic Pando forest (nature.com)
DNA samples from one of the world’s largest and oldest plants — a quaking aspen tree (Populus tremuloides) in Utah called Pando — have helped researchers to determine its age and revealed clues about its evolutionary history.
Genetics, Trees, Science, Environment, Evolution
119 points by pseudolus 109 days ago | 57 comments
The evolutionary mystery of the German cockroach (johnhawks.net)
The species evolved to exploit human-built environments and exists nowhere else. So where did it come from?
Evolution, Biology, Insects, Urban Environments
96 points by softwaredoug 111 days ago | 18 comments
The eukaryote, the first cell to get organized (quantamagazine.org)
Three billion years ago, life on Earth was simple. Single-celled organisms ruled, and there wasn’t much to them. They were what we now call prokaryotic cells, which include modern-day bacteria and archaea, essentially sacks of loose molecular parts. They swirled together in shallow, primordial brews or near deep-sea ocean vents, where they extracted energy from the environment and reproduced by dividing one cell into two daughter cells.
Biology, Evolution, Cell Biology
69 points by elsewhen 115 days ago | 15 comments
The eukaryote, the first cell to get organized (quantamagazine.org)
Three billion years ago, life on Earth was simple. Single-celled organisms ruled, and there wasn’t much to them. They were what we now call prokaryotic cells, which include modern-day bacteria and archaea, essentially sacks of loose molecular parts. They swirled together in shallow, primordial brews or near deep-sea ocean vents, where they extracted energy from the environment and reproduced by dividing one cell into two daughter cells.
Biology, Evolution, Science
17 points by isaacfrond 115 days ago | 1 comments
The electrostatic world of insects (wired.com)
Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen, and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.
Insects, Static Electricity, Biology, Evolution, Science
198 points by noleary 116 days ago | 49 comments
Preserved tracks suggest non-avian dinosaurs used their wings to run (newscientist.com)
Tiny tracks in South Korea symbolise a moment 120 million years ago when a dinosaur took advantage of its wings to cover ground in large leaps – the oldest track evidence of wing-assisted movement in these extinct animals.
Paleontology, Dinosaurs, Evolution, Science, Biology
9 points by nobody9999 120 days ago | 2 comments
Scientists predict and witness evolution in a 30-year marine snail experiment (phys.org)
Snails on a tiny rocky islet evolved before scientists' eyes. The marine snails were reintroduced after a toxic algal bloom wiped them out from the skerry. While the researchers intentionally brought in a distinct population of the same snail species, these evolved to strikingly resemble the population lost over 30 years prior.
Science, Evolution, Biology, Marine Biology, Experiments
42 points by gmays 122 days ago | 107 comments
Adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia on the Tibetan Plateau (sciencealert.com)
Humans are not yet done cooking. We're continuing to evolve and adjust to the world around us, the records of our adaptations written in our bodies.
Evolution, Genetics, Biology, Human Adaptation, Tibet
43 points by amichail 123 days ago | 79 comments