Photo courtesy of Bo Wong West Australian Jewel Beetle Julidomorpha bakewelli In the 1980s, Australian male jewel beetles were often encountered trying to mate with beer bottles. In an unfortunate coincidence, local bottle manufacturers produced “stubby” bottles that mimicked the colour and texture of a female beetle. This formed the basis of an "evolutionary trap",… Read More

Photo by Lynn Ketchum, courtesy of Oregon State University. CC BY-SA 2.0 Zebrafish Danio rerio Researchers in the Department of Chemistry at City University of Hong Kong found that when male zebrafish have a wounded heart, they secrete female sex hormones in order to speed up the recovery process. The increase in the female sex… Read More

Photo adapted from: OpenStaxCollege. CC-BY-3.0 Loss of Y Chromosome Mosiac Aneuploidy With nearly every cell division our bodies accumulate genetic mutations. By adulthood our bodies are mosaics of genetically distinct populations of cells. In some cases this genetic diversity leads to competition between cells which more closely resembles unicellular evolution than multicellular development. This process… Read More

Photo by Arjan Haverkamp CC BY 2.0 Ruffs Calidris pugnax Part of this bird’s scientific name already gives away something about its behaviour. The Latin pugnax means ‘combative’ and that is what the males perform as part of their mating rituals. Males and females gather in mating arenas for a mating ritual. The males display… Read More

  Photo by Lauren ku CC-BY-SA 4.0 Capitella Worm Capitella teleta The lowly worm, Capitella teleta. It doesn't look like much, but it plays an extremely important ecological role, especially in polluted marine environments. Many worms act as natural filters that help clean up water as they feed. Interestingly, worms are born as genetic males or… Read More