A new study led by Max Telford completely shook the animal Tree of life and also mark the birth of a new phyla termed “Xenacoelomorpha”.
Xenoturbella and Acoelomorpha are marine worms with highly debated ancestry. Both were originally associated with the flatworms (Platyhelminthes), but molecular data have revised their phylogenetic positions, generally linking xenoturbella to the deuterostomes leaving Acoelomorpha or Acoels as the most basally branching bilaterian group.

This is the preview of the two-hour special shown this Sunday October 11th on Discovery channel. Following publication in the journal Science on the discovery and study of a 4.4 million-year-old female partial skeleton nicknamed “Ardi,” Discovery Channel presented a world premiere special, DISCOVERING ARDI, Sunday October 11 documenting the sustained, intensive investigation leading up to this landmark publication of the Ardipithecus ramidus fossils.

Check ARDI coverage of Discovery Channel

An international team of paleontologists has discovered a new species of mammal that lived 123 million years ago in what is now the Liaoning Province in northeastern China. The newly discovered animal, Maotherium asiaticus, comes from famous fossil-rich beds of the Yixian Formation. This new remarkably well preserved fossil, as reported in the October 9 issue of the prestigious journal Science, offers an important insight into how the mammalian middle ear evolved. The discoveries of such exquisite dinosaur-age mammals from China provide developmental biologists and paleontologists with evidence of how …

This video features a talk by Sean Carroll at Strosacker Auditorium in September 2008

The Journal of Effective Teaching, a peer reviewed electronic journal devoted to the discussion of teaching excellence in colleges and universities. The new issue of this journal dealing with teaching evolution is currently online .
Here are the contents :
CONTENTS
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief:: Origins ………………. 1-3
Russell L. Herman HTML, PDF
ARTICLES
The Influence of Religion and High School Biology Courses on Students’ Knowledge of Evolution
When They Enter College ………. 4-12
Randy Moore, Sehoya Cotner, and Alex Bates Abstract, HTML, PDF

A short and nice video about evo devo @ scientific American

“Ardi” is the nickname given to a partial skeleton of a female Ardipithecus fossil, which lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Aramis, Ethiopia. A special issue with 11 articles thoroughly describing the Homid species ,Ardipithecus ramidus, will be published on 2 October 2009 issue of “Science“. These articles describe detailed analyses of Ardi’s partial skeleton and the remains of at least 35 of her colleagues.
The last common ancestor shared by humans and chimpanzees is thought to have lived six or more million years ago. Though Ardipithecus …