Evolution highlights IV

Flatfish support Darwin's evolutionary theory, research claims
An examination of fossil flatfish revealed that the eyes moved gradually to the same side of the skull.

First Evolutionary Branching For Bilateral Animals Found
First evolutionary divergence within bilaterians.

Getting a leg up on whale and dolphin evolution
Phylogenetic analysis suggests that cetacean ancestors transitioned to water before becoming carnivorous but that the meat-eating diet developed while these ancestors could still walk on land.

Did comet crashes help spark Earth life?
Researchers fire bullets into metal containers with a liquid core to show that the rise in temperature in comets crashing on Earth would not destroy the amino acids inside the comets.

Mass extinction event spared Europe — mostly
When a meteor hit the Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago, the effects were global, but not equally so. Europe was apparently less affected, and species diversity grew faster there in the years that followed. But, as we all know, the non-avian dinosaurs didn't make it anyway:

It wasn't enough to save the dinosaurs, though. The findings suggest there was no global inferno, but instead a blanket of debris that cast a dim pall over the planet.

Unable to access sunlight, plants that were critical sources of food quickly died. Even areas like western Europe, where the effects were less severe, the famine lasted long enough to wipe the big animals out.