The Friends of Charles Darwin

Tiger moth caterpillars have been seen medicating themselves to treat a nasty influx of parasites. Scientists found the caterpillars' sense of taste actually changed when they became infected with parasites. Instead of avoiding certain alkaloid plants, the caterpillars actually developed a fondness for them. This change in diet helps to beat the creatures' parasite infection, the researchers report in Nature.

President Bush invigorated proponents of teaching alternatives to evolution in public schools with remarks saying that schoolchildren should be taught about "intelligent design," a view of creation that challenges established scientific thinking and promotes the idea that an unseen force is behind the development of humanity.

A deep rift has opened within the Catholic church over the theory of evolution and its compatibility with the Christian faith. The Vatican’s chief astronomer, George Coyne, has rebuffed controversial comments made by Cardinal Christoph Schöaut;nborn in The New York Times on 7 July that evolution is incompatible with a belief in God.

Scientists have discovered one of the most intricate examples of convergent evolution with the help of South American "poison" frogs and ants and their cousins in Madagascar. (And here’s an odd fact for smokers: one Madagascan frog studied was found to have nicotine in its system!)

Two new species of lemur have been found in Madagascar, bringing the number of known species to 49.

A frog species which had a distinct Norfolk accent, but which became extinct in England in the 1990s is being reintroduced. About 70 northern pool frogs—one of Europe's rarest species—will be reintroduced to Norfolk by English Nature and partners on Friday. The frog was thought to be a European import, but researchers have now found they are native to East Anglia. Recordings of mating Norfolk frogs show they had a characteristic inflection.

The world on average is about 1°F (0.6°C) warmer today than it was a century ago. That may not sound like a lot, but it's enough to concern some scientists. The temperature rise has put feathered, furry, and scaly animals alike in a state of flux. Some are seeking higher ground, others are breeding earlier, and many can't find enough to eat.

Scientists have tracked a tagged polar bear swimming at least 74 km in just one day—and maybe up to 100 km—providing the first conclusive proof the bears can cover such giant distances in the water.

Article by Amanda Schaffer.

A strange 525 million-year-old fossil creature is baffling scientists because it does not fit neatly into any existing animal groups. The animal, from the early Cambrian Period, might have belonged to a now extinct mollusc-like phylum, academics from America and China say. Other researchers have suggested the creature could represent an early annelid or arthropod.

Over the next few months more than 28m dried and pinned specimens, including some that are more than 300 years old, will move out of their dark storerooms in the Natural History Museum to make way for a £66m building programme. Hans Sloane, the man who gave his name to Sloane Square and invented milk chocolate in the 18th century, collected many of the exquisitely fragile specimens of enormous economic and historic importance. Other collectors include Joseph Banks, who sailed with Captain Cook; Charles Darwin, who circumnavigated the world aboard HMS Beagle; and thousands of 20th-century enthusiasts and experts.

Complex variation of the East African climate may have played a key role in the development of our human ancestors. Scientists have identified extensive lake systems which formed and disappeared in East Africa between one and three million years ago. The lakes could be evidence that global climate changes occured throughout this pivotal period in human evolution.

Small but perfectly formed, Pelagibacter ubique is a lean machine stripped down to the bare essentials for life. Humans have around 30,000 genes that determine everything from our eye colour to our sex but Pelagibacter has just 1,354, US biologists report in the journal Science.

Climate change is affecting both bird numbers in the UK and where they live, according to a new report. Experts say new figures - like those which show wading birds are moving eastwards - reveal the true impact of changes such as milder winters.

Humans are not the only conformists in the animal kingdom. New research shows that chimpanzees also tend to imitate their peers, suggesting that the human penchant for follow-the-leader may be more deeply rooted than thought. Chimpanzees have behavioural traditions that vary between groups in the wild but, so far, direct experimental evidence of how these traditions are spread and maintained has been lacking. So Andrew Whiten of St Andrews University, UK, led a team that sought to show a chimpanzee proclivity for cultural conformity in a population of captive animals.

Sturdy shoes first came into widespread use between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago, according to a US scientist. Humans' small toes became weaker during this time, says physical anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, who has studied scores of early human foot bones. He attributes this anatomical change to the invention of rugged shoes, that reduced our need for strong, flexible toes to grip and balance.

Fossils of a tiny creature which lived before the existence of dinosaurs have been found in Aberdeenshire. The tiny relics which are less than two millimetres long are the remains of cladocerans, or water fleas, which lived 410 million years ago. Experts at the National Museum of Scotland said the discovery, in the world-renowned cherts sediments at Rhynie, was of global importance. They said it explained the mystery of what the first freshwater fish fed on.

A computer simulation of the Earth's climate 250 million years ago suggests that global warming triggered the so-called "great dying". A dramatic rise in carbon dioxide caused temperatures to soar to 10 to 30 degrees Celsius higher than today, say US researchers.

The first convincing chimp fossil has been discovered by scientists. Unlike our human ancestors, whose fossil remains are relatively plentiful, chimps have always been conspicuously absent from the fossil record. Many experts doubted such specimens could exist because most chimps live in the rain forests of West and central Africa where acidic soil and high rainfall levels hamper fossil preservation.

Seabird colonies in Scotland have suffered one of the worst breeding seasons on record, experts have warned. Reserves run by RSPB Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) have seen major failures of some species.