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LINGERING SHADOWS. "Remains of the notochord are retained as the gel-like nucleus pulposus at the center of intervertebral discs. It is difficult if not impossible to discern these transformations as remnants of solely evolutionary or developmental alteration—plainly, these changes are intertwined—but it is abundantly clear that the structures that remain are mere shadows of their former ontogenetic and phylogenetic states, and thus guides to organismal history." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

FINDING A NEW FUNCTION. "With exaptations (‘pre-adaptations’) the function changes over time, yielding other historical information. As with vestiges, an exaptation can be a structure but it can also be a behavior or process." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

ANACHRONISTIC ADAPTATIONS. "A good example is the large, hard-shelled, gourd-type fruit of the calabash (Crescentia) tree, which has been posited as an ‘anachronistic’ adaptation for seed dispersal by gomphotheres, large, elephant-like mammals that went extinct over 10,000 years ago." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

"ADAPTATIONS too reveal important lessons about the past, and this is particularly true when environmental changes render an adaptation apparently useless." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

RETENTION ON BACKGROUND OF CHANGE. "To most minds evolution is a steady progression of change, but what ultimately marks vestiges and other ‘holdover’ phenomena is a distinct lack of change. George Williams pointed out that adaptationist stories “are not about evolution so much as about its absence” in the sense that adaptations represent static retention of features because stabilizing selection culls less optimal forms." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

Astronomers discover 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby star http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/22/world/new-exoplanets-discovery-nasa/index.html View in LinkedIn

INSIGHTS INTO THE PAST. "When seen from the perspective of closely related lineages (e.g., humans and apes) and their extinct common ancestors, these features tell us not only about extant taxa. They can also reveal important lessons about their history." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

RETAINED FORMS. "A similar example comes from the origin of mammary glands as derived sweat glands. Even sexual dimorphism in body form and size can, in many lineages, represent retention of former evolutionary and developmental conditions." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

EVOLUTION-DEVELOPMENT FORCES. "The joint evo-devo changes of these structures in mammals (where they are still functional, but with a new function), as well as in extant reptiles that have also evolved from the common ancestor with mammals, provide much evidence as to joint ontogenetic and phylogenetic transformation." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

MIDDLE EAR. "One of the best examples of such a major remnant of evolutionary and developmental history involves the mammalian middle ear ossicles (the malleus, incus, and stapes bones), all of which are derived from jaw bones of ancestral reptiles but which now play a key role in hearing by amplifying sounds." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn