The origin of all living vertebrates just got more mysterious.

Since the 1970s, many evolutionary biologists have considered an eel-like, deep sea-dwelling creature called the hagfish to be the closest extant relative of a last common ancestor for all backboned creatures.

That made the hagfish a stand-in for a transitional species between

The iPad and iPhone have hogged the media’s attention for months, but Apple is preparing to turn the spotlight onto its Macintosh computers in a press conference Wednesday.

Just what can we expect? Apple observers are exchanging whispers about new notebooks and a preview of the next Mac operating system. Here’s a quick rundown of what Apple is likely to unveil at the