breeding

Does your dog’s breed really determine its personality?

Dog enthusiasts will frequently tell you that certain dogs have certain characteristics: Golden Retrievers are friendly, German Shepherds are protective, and Corgis are smarter than a fifth grader. But is a dog’s breed really such a great predictor of its personality? This is Skoda—or Dr. Emil Skoda if you want to be formal. He is,…

io9 Lauren Davis Mar 14

Dogs that look more like puppies have an evolutionary advantage

In many ways, dogs appear and behave more like wolf puppies than wolf adults. Scientists have theorized that these “paedomorphic” features are the byproduct of selecting dogs against aggression. But a new study suggests this is no byproduct at all, but rather the result of a human preference for puppy-like facial expressions. How wolves were…

io9 George Dvorsky Dec 27

The Nazi breeding program that resurrected an extinct species

An indelible characteristic of fascist ideology is the celebration of a mythic past, an over-the-top nostalgic fixation often accompanied by attempts to restore things to the way they used to be “back in the good ol’ days”. For the Nazis, this meant a return to Old Germania — the old Germany of the Nibelungenlied —…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 9

“Ancient” dog breeds? Not so ancient, it turns out.

Some fourteen breeds of dogs are generally considered “ancient,” including the samoyed, shar pei, and saluki. But while these breeds have been given this label for their supposed link to the predecessors of modern canines, new research reveals that they’re as modern as every other dog on the block. A group of biologists analysed genetic…

io9 Tim Barribeau May 24

How long ago did we finish domesticating horses?

From Black Beauty to My Little Pony: Frienship is Magic, humans have an ongoing love affair with horses (and their smaller pony cousins). But not too long ago, the wild creatures that became horses looked considerably different. Where did modern horses originate, and how did they become the domesticated species we know today? A new…

io9 Sophie Bushwick May 9

Once again, pandas prove they have the world’s most byzantine mating habits

Pandas, as a species, seem absolutely resolute in their desire not to breed, regardless of how much panda porn we seem to show them. Just to further drive this point home comes new research — not only do females pandas have a reproductive window, but the males do too. The reproductive cycle of female pandas…

io9 Tim Barribeau Apr 6

What Pigeons Teach Us About Convergent Evolution

Picture a pigeon: gray body, iridescent neck feathers, probably pecking away at trash on a city sidewalk. But there are actually more than 350 different breeds of pigeon, and many of them look nothing like the familiar city pest. A new study examines the physical and genetic differences between the pigeon breeds, to come to…

io9 Sophie Bushwick Jan 20

We may save the world’s food supply by creating super-bees

For reasons that aren’t fully understood, bees are dying off. That could mean disaster for us, since we depend on bees to pollinate crops. The solution? To create disease- and pest-resistant super-bees. What could possibly go wrong? A combination of viruses and insecticide-resistant mites have killed off 85% of all bees in the Middle East,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 13

Why some animals can never be domesticated

Dogs, sheep, pigs, cows, horses – all these animals and more have been fundamentally changed by humans to make our lives better. Domestication has fundamentally altered the course of human history, reshaping the land and other species to fit our new agricultural lifestyle. But how do you take a wild species and turn them into…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Feb 9

Why a sense of rhythm could turn you into a worker drone

A new study reveals that some wasps beat their young into becoming subservient workers while they’re still in the womb. The scary part is that their techniques could work on mammals, too. For years scientists were puzzled by the nurturing behavior of the paper wasp. Wasp eggs were placed in chambers and covered, allowing them…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jan 27

No, I Can’t Possibly See What Could Go Wrong With GIANT Dragonflies Bred in a Lab

You know what there’s not nearly enough of, on this fine planet of ours? Dangerous animals that could wipe us all out in one fell swoop. I guess that’s why these sadistic scientists bred extra-large dragonflies, then? The scientists raised atmospheric oxygen levels to above 30 per cent, which is closer to how the Paleozoic…

Tech News Kat Hannaford Nov 2

Going Halfsies With the Best SciFi Half Breeds

Human-alien hybrids are everywhere in scifi. Whether they come from interplanetary love or mutant genes quietly sneaking into our DNA, we’re all about hooking up the Human factor with anything else out there. Just ask Captain Kirk, who tried to dock with every alien woman he encountered. Check out our list below of some of…

io9 Kevin Kelly Apr 21

Five Large-Scale Attempts to Change the Course of Human Evolution

Charles Darwin first explained the principles of sexual selection in his controversial book The Descent of Man (1871). Ever since then, people have wanted to tinker with human evolution via artificial sexual selection. Dictators, mad doctors, and crazed social scientists have proposed — and even carried out — human breeding experiments aimed at improving the…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 28

The Suckiest Parts of Lost

Tomboy Kate morphs into wimpy womanhood in one of Lost’s most annoying moments. Yesterday we paid tribute to our favorite moments from the show, but now it’s time to tear into the most disappointing, annoying and/or simply wrong moments. Bad omen: the worst of Lost is almost all related to season 3. The Wussification of…

io9 Peril Jan 25

Does your dog’s breed really determine its personality?

Dogs that look more like puppies have an evolutionary advantage

The Nazi breeding program that resurrected an extinct species

“Ancient” dog breeds? Not so ancient, it turns out.

How long ago did we finish domesticating horses?

Once again, pandas prove they have the world’s most byzantine mating habits

What Pigeons Teach Us About Convergent Evolution

We may save the world’s food supply by creating super-bees

Why some animals can never be domesticated

Why a sense of rhythm could turn you into a worker drone

No, I Can’t Possibly See What Could Go Wrong With GIANT Dragonflies Bred in a Lab

Going Halfsies With the Best SciFi Half Breeds

Five Large-Scale Attempts to Change the Course of Human Evolution

The Suckiest Parts of Lost

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