Despite the fact that X is much larger than the
tiny Y, it seems that both evolved from a pair of conventional chromosomes in
early mammals sometime in the past 300 million years — an idea first proposed in 1967.
New analyses of
tiny fossil
mammals from Glamorgan, South Wales are shedding light on the function and diets of our
earliest ancestors, a team including researchers from the University of Southampton report today in the journal Nature.