Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Evolution

In many animal species, males display showier features than females. Among humans, however, women are popularly described as the "fairer sex."

People Across Cultures Find Women’s Faces to Be More Attractive Than Men’s, a New Study Suggests

In many species of wild animals, males have flashier features than females to help them attract mates. But scientists have long noticed that humans seem to be an exception, with women often being considered the “fairer sex”

Chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas tend to walk on their knuckles, while macaques and capuchins walk with flat palms.  

Did Human Ancestors Walk on Their Knuckles Like Today’s Chimpanzees? New Research Adds More Evidence to the Debate

After investigating thousands of wrist bones, scientists suspect the last common ancestor species of humans and chimpanzees may have navigated the world on its knuckles

Researchers weren't sure what drove some theropods, like T. rex, to evolve tiny arms relative to their body sizes.

Tyrannosaurus Rex and Other Terrifying Predatory Dinosaurs Had Itty-Bitty Arms. Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out Why

A new study suggests that certain theropods—two-legged, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs—had shrunken forelimbs as an evolutionary trade-off for their strong skulls

Scientists carried out their experiments in the bacterium Escherichia coli. Cells of the species are artificially colored blue in this microscope image.

Scientists Used A.I. to Redesign a Microbe’s Machinery to Function Without a Key Ingredient of Life

Although the researchers did not create an entire cell that could function without a crucial building block, the findings represent a big step in synthetic biology and provide a glimpse at how Earth’s earliest organisms may have lived

Around 90 percent of people are right-handed.

Why Is Nearly Every Person Right-Handed—but Not Every Ape and Monkey? New Research Explores the Evolutionary Origins of Human Handedness

Brain size and bipedalism are the most likely drivers of our species’ right-hand dominance, according to new research

Tuerkayana hirtipes, a true crab species examined in the study

When Did Crabs Evolve Their Iconic Sideways Scuttle? Scientists Traced It to a Common Ancestor That Lived 200 Million Years Ago

The findings suggest that their famous lateral movement evolved just once. It may have helped the animals rapidly spread and diversify because moving in two directions meant they could easily escape predators

An illustration of an Alston’s singing mouse from the 1882 publication Biologia Centrali-Americana: Mammalia

These Singing Mice Squeak Back and Forth—and Don’t Interrupt. Scientists Found the Brain Pathway Behind Their Impressive Songs

Alston’s singing mice carry out complex vocalizations and even appear to converse politely with one another. The neural circuitry that makes this possible is simpler than researchers expected

Kenya's Great Rift Valley

East Africa Might Break Off From the Continent Sooner Than Scientists Thought—and a New Ocean May Fill the Gap

A new study suggests that a rift in Kenya and Ethiopia has reached a critical stage in the split-up process, and that water may flood it in a few million years

About 47 percent of wolves in Italy are considered wolf-dog hybrids, according to a recent genetic analysis.

Nearly Half of Italy’s Wolves Are Part Dog Now, Thanks to Hybridization. Is That a Threat to the Species?

Wolf-dog hybrids are growing far more common in Italy, raising scientists’ concerns for the future of the wolves

Neanderthals survived from roughly 400,000 to 40,000 years ago, when they mysteriously disappeared.

What Killed the Neanderthals? New Research Suggests a Lack of Genetic Diversity May Be Partially to Blame

When the climate cooled, the population of Neanderthals shrank. Most that lived between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago were descended from the same lineage and had very similar DNA

A female lynx named Ulcera carries a rabbit to a water trough and dunks it on July 16, 2024. This incident was one of eight that researchers recorded among lynxes in central Spain.

Camera Traps Reveal Iberian Lynxes Soaking Their Prey, a First-Ever Discovery Among Carnivores

Scientists speculate that the wild cats are trying to improve hydration or ease their cubs’ transition to solid food. The finding points to resilience in one of the world’s most endangered felines

Natural selection has been playing a bigger role in changing modern human DNA than previously thought, according to a new study.

Humans Are Still Evolving. Natural Selection Has Favored Genes Linked to Red Hair and Less Male-Pattern Baldness, a Study Suggests

A massive study of ancient and modern DNA from thousands of West Eurasian people has identified nearly 500 genetic variants that evolution has selected for or against in recent history

Amud 7 was discovered in a cave in Israel in 1992.

Neanderthal Kids Grew Up So Fast—at Least Compared With Their Human Peers—Thanks to Genetic Adaptations to Their Environment

Scientists think Neanderthal children may have had faster growth rates because larger bodies tend to retain heat more effectively than smaller ones

The reseachers investigated preserved specimens kept at museums, like this Bufoceratias wedli from the Field Museum in Chicago.

Anglerfish Are Known for Their Built-in Fishing Rods. New Research Sheds Light on How These Lures Evolved in the Strange Creatures

A new study suggests the odd appendages first appeared in the fish’s ancestors around 72 million years ago. Today, females might use them not only to attract prey but also to communicate with potential mates

Mountains in Montana’s Makoshika State Park, where some of the Hell Creek Formation lies.

250 Places to Celebrate America

The Hell Creek Formation Is North America’s Legendary Boneyard. See the Top Five Discoveries Found in the Iconic Fossil Bed

From preserved plants to T. rex, the material found in these Late Cretaceous rocks has resulted in countless breakthroughs for paleontologists

An artist's rendition of Captorhinus in its death pose

This Nearly 300-Million-Year-Old Mummified Reptile Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of How We Breathe

Unusually well-preserved fossils have provided the earliest known evidence of a land vertebrate that could pump air in and out of its chest using muscles between the ribs—the same strategy used by modern mammals, reptiles and birds

Chimpanzees from the Western group attacking members of the Central group in 2019.

These Wild Chimps Have Been Fighting in a ‘Civil War’ for Nearly a Decade. It’s the Bloodiest Split Ever Seen Among Their Kind

The Ngogo chimpanzees in Uganda have divided themselves into two main factions, and dozens of deaths have been recorded since the split in 2018. A new study details the unprecedented violence, which could shed light on the evolutionary underpinnings of human warfare

The researchers primarily studied California two-spot octopuses.

Octopus Sex Just Got Weirder. In Addition to Depositing Sperm, Males’ Specialized Mating Arm Can ‘Taste’ Female Hormones

The hectocotylus is both a reproductive organ and a sensory organ, a rare combination in animals, new research suggests

An illustration of the fossils' environment around 539 million to 554 million years ago

Cool Finds

New Fossils Discovered in China Hint That Complex Life Evolved Millions of Years Earlier Than Scientists Thought

The assemblage suggests that the ancestors of some of today’s animal groups may have arisen before the famed Cambrian explosion

Megachelicerax cousteaui and a close-up of one of its pincers, or chelicerae

This 500-Million-Year-Old Fossil of a Claw-Bearing Predator Uncovers the Origins of Spiders, Scorpions and Other Arthropods

A new analysis of a specimen found more than 40 years ago reveals the oldest known chelicerate, defined by its pair of pincer-like appendages

Page 1 of 48