Evolution

The day Darwin climbed Patagonia’s Mount Tarn, Conrad Martens painted it from across the bay.

The Beautiful Drawings by Darwin's Artist-in-Residence

On the famous HMS Beagle voyage, painter Conrad Martens depicted the sights along the journey

Borneo orangutan

Learn the Secrets of Ape’s Sleeping Habits

Apes sleep better and longer than other primates

The oceans are teeming with tetrapods—“four-legged” birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians—that have repeatedly transitioned from the land to the sea, adapting their legs into fins.

Take a Deep Dive Into The Reasons Land Animals Moved to the Seas

Synthesizing decades of discoveries, scientists have revealed links between changing environments and animal movements

Here’s Why the Dutch Are So Tall

A new study shows natural selection is alive and well in the Netherlands

Why is music so important to so many of us?

Here’s How Music Really Could Soothe Your Soul

A leading scholar theorizes that music developed as an evolutionary adaptation to help us deal with the contradictory nature of life

It's a beetle invasion! These lady beetles (also known as lady bugs) are just one of Earth's family of beetles.

Beetle Species, Weirdly, Almost Never Go Extinct

The world is disproportionately filled with beetles—now, a new study suggests that’s because few species have ever been wiped out

This shot of a statue from the Louvre is one of the least-shocking anus-related image we came up with.

Science Is Still Unclear About the Evolutionary Origin of the Anus

A newly published scientific review attempts to “get to the bottom” of how animals acquired what some might call the most indecent part of the body

A scanning electronic microscope image of the 600 million-year-old sponge-like fossil

One of the Oldest Known Animals Is This Tiny, Ancient Sponge

A new fossil find pushes back the start of the evolution of multicellular animals

Luna moths - arguably the most spectacular moths in North America - deflect bat attacks with their ornate wing tails.

Luna Moths’ Gorgeous Wings Throw Off Bat Attacks

Spinning twin tails at the end of moth wings garble bats’ sonar cries, causing the winged predators to miss the tasty mark

The results of agriculture changed our mouths, but not completely for the better.

Before Agriculture, Human Jaws Were a Perfect Fit for Human Teeth

The emergence of agricultural practices initiated major changes to the jaw structure of ancient humans, leading to dental problems we still experience

There's a Big Rift in Opinion Between Americans And Scientists

New study shows that citizens and scientists only agree some of the time

The Wrists of Birds Reveal Evolution Undoing Itself

Contrary to earlier claims, a new study shows that evolution may be reversible

One Orangutan Has Learned to Sound Just Like Us

This defies scientists’ former assumption that great apes just couldn’t learn new calls

Ancient Dogs Likely Arrived in America Thousands of Years After Humans

New research on dog DNA shows that they migrated to the new world much later than initially thought

Ants Usually Turn Left While Exploring

It's a sinister version of human's tendency towards right-handedness

Researchers found that human joint-bone density remained pretty high until recently in our evolutionary history, around the same time that humans began switching from hunting and gathering to farming.

Switching to Farming Made Human Joint Bones Lighter

A more fragile skeleton evolved about 12,000 years ago, probably driven by a shift from hunting to agriculture

Aspidoscelis neavesi, a species unlike any other.

This New Lizard Species Evolved in a Lab

The novel reptile shows that hybrids can indeed lead to viable species, but not by the normal reproductive route

Beware of this meat-eating Albertosaurus on the Royal Tyrrell Museum plaza.

Want to Excite Your Inner Dinosaur Fan? Pack Your Bags for Alberta

Canada’s badlands are the place to see fantastic dinosaur fossils (and kitsch)—and eye-opening new evidence about the eve of their fall

Scientists Finally Figure Out the “Big Bang” of Bird Evolution

The genomes of 45 birds contributed to the most in-depth bird evolutionary tree ever created

A humpback whale in waters off southern Oman.

Humpback Whales in the Arabian Sea Have Been Isolated for 70,000 Years

Conservationists want this particular population of humpbacks to be classified as critically endangered

Page 28 of 42