Tag: evolution

New research reveals that both bonobos and chimpanzees use sexual behavior to ease social tension

Sexus Botanicus, by Joanne Anton, is a lovely exploration of the surprising habits of plants and their pollinators.

Skunks' stripes fade in safer environments, showing how less danger leads to evolutionary changes in warning coloration.

Modern life is giving us more sleep but it's breaking our internal clocks.

A dog might skip a better meal just to eat from a bowl in his favorite color — yellow.

Scientists turn Peto's paradox on its head.

The mechanisms of evolution may change according to the challenges of the environment.

What mice with a human mutation reveals about the evolution of speech.

Could we ever overcome our primal nature? The survival of civilization may be at stake.

This rare blow fly species has larvae that fit right in with the termites down to copying their odor.

The bonobos eagerly pointed out treats to humans who didn’t know where they were, but when humans had watched the ...

Sometimes a tiny cluster of neurons is enough to change the course of evolution.

Mars is a strange place and any humans born there are bound to look radically different over thousands or even ...

Even in a world of absolute equals, small strokes of luck can shape survival and evolutionary success in nature.

New study challenges traditional views on human evolution with "bizarre" findings.

Driven to the brink of extinction, bed bugs adapted—and now pesticides are almost useless against them.

In the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, worms show no genetic damage despite living in highly radioactive soil, and free-ranging dogs persist ...

Darwin called them "purposeless", but emotional tears have their place.

Take a closer look at your hands—they carry millions of years of evolutionary history, connecting you to our closest primate ...

Navaornis is likened to a sort of Rosetta Stone for decyphering the evolution of bird brains.

Amphibian fossils, particularly those capturing larval stages, are exceptionally rare due to tadpoles’ soft, delicate bodies, which are highly prone ...

The sea robin walks on leg-like fins that can taste the seafloor, showcasing evolution's clever repurposing of traits.

An ancient shrimplike creature is helping scientists understand how mandibles became so common among animals.

These primates can sing on the beat. Even their calls are rhythmic, hinting at a potential origin story for music ...

New study reveals the driving evolutionary forces behind giraffes' necks

They're more like cousins than siblings.

Daddy longlegs have extra eyes from their evolutionary past.

Humans and other apes are tail-less due to a peculiar 'jumping gene', which used to be considered 'junk DNA'.

Oldest fossil mosquito found in Lebanese amber suggests ancient males also fed on blood, revising our knowledge of mosquito evolution.

New research narrows down the emergence of LUCA, the common ancestor of all life on Earth, to over 4.3 billion ...

Australian cane toads evolve rapidly, with tadpoles turning cannibalistic and hatchlings speeding up development in response.

It protected them from the sun’s harmful rays.

It's one of the most revolutionary theories in science.

Research on Chernobyl frogs has shown that the ionising radiation caused by the accident triggered a process of natural selection ...

We knew they are very adaptable, but this takes things to another level.

Sometimes, being bigger is not better.

Structures providing energy to cells have a crucial role in vision.

Virtual code has become virtual DNA.

They're about the size of a grain of sand.

The effect of sexual selection on females has been largely ignored in favor of the more pronounced and obvious effect ...

Scientists have discovered an underlying molecular link between venom glands in snakes and salivary glands in mammals.

Science isn't perfect, and neither was Darwin.

Sometimes, speed is of the essence.

Aquatic life may not have enough time to adapt to an increasingly warming world.

Turns out, Darwin was really good about understanding evolution.

The medicinal plant from China is trying to prevent heavy harvesting.

If you like seeing defined shapes, you should thank this little fellow.

Viruses are a seemingly inherent part of mammalian evolution, two studies suggest.

Dry climate and urbanization prompted the first mosquitoes to increasingly bite humans -- and things aren't looking too well for ...

An art historian and a biologist form an uncanny pair in order to reveal the timeline of evolution for your ...