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Originally published   by NYU Langone Health, on February 28, 2024  Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A genetic change in our ancient ancestors may partly explain why humans don't have tails like monkeys, finds a new study led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine . Published online February 28 as the cover story of the journal Nature , the work compared the DNA of tail-less apes and humans to that of tailed monkeys , and found an insertion of DNA shared by apes and humans , but missing in monkeys . When the research team engineered a series of mice to examine whether the insertion, in a gene called TBXT , affected their tails, they found a variety of tail effects , including some mice born without tails. "Our study begins to explain how evolution removed our tails , a question that has intrigued me since I was young," says corresponding study author Bo Xia, Ph.D., a student at the time of the study in the labs of study senior co-authors Jef D....

  Originally published by Bob Yirka, Phys.org, on September 8, 2023 Pteropus rufus, the Malagasy Flying Fox, in flight over Madagascar. Credit: Michael McGuire (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ) A small team of biologists and evolutionists from the University of Chicago, York University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Exeter reports why bats carry viruses that cause higher fatality rates when jumping to humans than those that come from any other mammal. In their study, reported on the open-access site PLOS Biology , the group used data from past research efforts to model the growth of viruses within bat populations as well as their spread to other animals. Prior research has shown that when a virus jumps from bats to humans, the results can be deadlier for humans than when viruses jump from other mammals. The reason has been a matter of debate. In this new effort, the team used data from prior research efforts , along wi...