Top 7 hidden jewels

#1 Long fingers, long toes

Darwin suggested that bipedal locomotion allowed our hands to evolve the necessary dexterity for tool handling, but a new study proposes that human hands and feet coevolved: Selection on the toes led to parallel changes in the hands.

Photo by Pierre79, Wikimedia Commons

C. Rolian et al., "The coevolution of human hands and feet," Evolution, 64:1558-68, 2010. Eval by Daniel Weinreich and David Rand, Brown University. ID: 4935958

#2 New targets for hypertension

Mice lacking the ability to oxidize fatty acids do not develop abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, suggesting new potential therapeutic targets for hypertension.