How the Galápagos cormorant got its tiny wings

Faulty genes that hamper cell chatter robbed birds of flight

a Galápagos cormorant

NO FLY ZONE  Galápagos cormorants’ wings have dwindled so much over the last 2 million years that the birds can no longer get off the ground. Researchers now have genetic evidence implicating faulty cellular antennas, called primary cilia, in shrinking the wings.

Brian Gratwicke/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y.