Keep pulling the thread on Harvey Carton.
Recent research concluded that the cognitive circuits in bird and mammal brains evolved separately, as the developmental programs giving rise to them are not the same.
The functional similarity between cognitive circuits in bird and mammal brains is an example of convergent evolution, where similar structures evolved from different cell types in a common ancestor.
A study published by Chinese researchers in November 2025 provided strong evidence that RNA in sperm is a mechanism for transmitting heritable phenotypes.
Researchers in a 2025 study on mice identified a specific set of microRNAs in sperm and fertilized eggs that are linked to regulating genes for increased metabolism and muscle function.
Avian brains lack a neocortex, the layered structure found in mammals that is responsible for higher reasoning.
Birds possess a brain structure called the dorsal ventricular ridge (DVR), which contains a very high density of small, packed neurons.
Evidence suggests that birds and mammals last shared a common ancestor approximately 320 million years ago.
Research in mice has shown that molecular records of a father's lifestyle, such as diet, stress, and exercise, can be transmitted via sperm to produce similar traits in the next generation.
A 2010 paper from Ali Rando's lab demonstrated that different diets fed to male mice resulted in different metabolic phenotypes in their offspring.
In a 2025 study, researchers found that male offspring of father mice who were trained on a treadmill for two weeks were more physically fit than a control group.
Evolutionary biologist Jordan Douglas's computational model of enzyme evolution showed spikes of rapid separation, termed "saltative branching," at the points where enzyme families split.
Jordan Douglas's computational model successfully predicted the sudden bursts in body shape changes found in the evolutionary history of cephalopods.