Scientists don't ask how some people evolved to be tall. In the same way, asking how homosexuality evolved is the wrong question. We need to ask how human sexuality evolved in all its forms.
October 22, 2019
What is sex really for?
Richard Gunderman, Indiana University
The purpose of sex may seem obvious, but it has perplexed and intrigued a variety of great minds for millennia.
October 9, 2019
Fast evolution explains the tiny stature of extinct ‘Hobbit’ from Flores Island
José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho, Universidade Federal de Goias and Pasquale Raia, University of Naples Federico II
New research models how the Homo floresiensis species could have evolved its small size remarkably quickly while living on an isolated island.
October 1, 2019
Curious Kids: how do scientists know evolution is real?
Jenny Graves, La Trobe University
In science, we look at the evidence and try to find the theory that best explains it. And that's what happened when it came to figuring out evolution.
September 3, 2019
Evolution doesn’t proceed in a straight line – so why draw it that way?
Quentin Wheeler, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Antonio G. Valdecasas, CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and Cristina Cánovas, CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
If you go by editorial cartoons and T-shirts, you might have the impression that evolution proceeds as an orderly march toward a preordained finish line. But that's not right at all.
August 1, 2019
Turtle embryos can choose their own sex, shows new research – but why?
Peter Ellis, University of Kent
How and why animals develop as male or female is far more complex than we ever imagined.
June 6, 2019
Why humans (or something very similar) may have been destined to walk the Earth
James S. Horton, University of Bath and Tiffany Taylor, University of Bath
Modern science clashes with the idea that the rise of Homo Sapiens was a fluke.
May 6, 2019
It’s time we stopped human evolution – geneticist
Alasdair Mackenzie, University of Aberdeen
One reason for the likes of the anti-vaxxers movement is a misplaced faith in Mother Nature.
April 5, 2019
Evolution: how the theory is inspiring a new way of understanding language
Glenn Hadikin, University of Portsmouth
Ever heard of lexical selection? Every time you open your mouth you change the way future generations will talk.
February 22, 2019
Sexual selection in action: Birds that attract multiple mates change their songs more quickly
Nicole Creanza, Vanderbilt University and Kate Snyder, Vanderbilt University
Biologists investigated whether birds that search for multiple mates would evolve ever more elaborate songs to attract them. What they found might have surprised Darwin.
February 5, 2019
How hunting for crabs in a museum helped unlock secrets of their evolution
Sara Mynott, University of Exeter
Citizen science game offered clues to why shore crabs get greener as they grow.
December 11, 2018
These ‘useless’ quirks of evolution are actually evidence for the theory
Ben Garrod, Anglia Ruskin University
Why are humans the only animals with chins?
November 14, 2018
Human evolution is still happening – possibly faster than ever
Laurence D. Hurst, University of Bath
Natural selection isn't the only factor deciding human evolution.
August 15, 2018
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution owes more to his garden than the Galápagos
Ben Garrod, Anglia Ruskin University
Was Darwin inspired by the tropical wildlife of his travels to discover natural selection? Actually, pigeons, worms and barnacles were far more prominent in his thinking.
August 15, 2018
Following Alfred Russel Wallace’s footsteps to Borneo, where he penned his seminal evolution paper
Giacomo Bernardi, University of California, Santa Cruz
An evolutionary biologist visits the remote jungle mountaintop where a little-known naturalist wrote his insightful paper about the mechanisms of evolution that spurred on a rivalrous Charles Darwin.
July 25, 2018
Natural selection in action: Hurricanes Irma and Maria affected island lizards
Colin Donihue, Harvard University
In the wake of two hurricanes in the Turks and Caicos Islands, researchers document for the first time that catastrophic storms can be agents of natural selection, influencing how species evolve.
May 31, 2018
Guide to the classics: Darwin’s On the Origin of Species
Julia Kindt, University of Sydney and Tanya Latty, University of Sydney
In this age of the pseudo-factual, its more important than ever to acquaint ourselves with the foundations of the scientific tradition, such as Darwin's Origin of Species.
April 26, 2018
Mother’s milk holds the key to unlocking an evolutionary mystery from the last ice age
Leslea Hlusko, University of California, Berkeley
Why was one gene mutation that affects hair, teeth, sweat glands and breasts ubiquitous among ice age Arctic people? New research points to the advantage it provided for ancestors of Native Americans.
April 19, 2018
Are humans still evolving? Freediving people have evolved to stay underwater longer
Jan Hoole, Keele University
New research shows the Bajau Laut people of Southeast Asia have evolved bigger spleens to store more oxygen-rich blood.
March 30, 2018
Discovery of a surprise multitasking gene helps explain how new functions and features evolve
Katherine L. Petrie, University of California San Diego and Justin Meyer, University of California San Diego
A core idea in molecular biology is that one gene codes for one protein. Now biologists have found an example of a gene that yields two forms of a protein – enabling it to evolve new functionality.