Can species evolve fast enough to survive as the planet heats up?
A cracked riverbed along the Sacramento River during a drought in California Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images For…
Why Don’t Humans Have A Mating Season? An Evolutionary Biologist Explains
Humans don’t have a defined mating season like deer or wolves. Here’s how evolution rewired our reproduction by…
This giant virus hijacks cells’ protein-making machinery to multiply wildly
Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (artist’s impression) is a giant among viruses, both in physical size and because of the…
Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor
Vosseberg, J. et al. The emerging view on the origin and early evolution of eukaryotic cells. Nature 633,…
Snakes Resort to Cannibalism When the Opportunity Strikes, Study Shows
Scientists have uncovered yet another reason not to trust a snake—the slithering creatures have a habit of eating…
Extinct Hawaiian Ibis Had Unusually Small Eyes and Limited Visual Capacity, Study Says
Apteribis, an extinct species of ibis that once inhabited the Hawaiian Islands, occupied a niche similar to that…
Tiny New Species of Herbivorous Dinosaur Unearthed in Spain
A new genus and species of diminutive bipedal dinosaur has been identified from the fossils found in Burgos…
What were the first animals? The fierce sponge–jelly battle that just won’t end
Which animals came first? For more than a century, most evidence suggested that sponges, immobile filter-feeders that lack…
our modern obsession with ‘wellness’ is driven by ancient instincts
If you’ve spent even a little time on social media in recent years, you’ve no doubt come across…
Biomechanical limits of hopping in the hindlimbs of giant extinct kangaroos
Specimens All species included in this study were macropodiforms; the bone measurement dataset encompassed all extant families and…
Southern hemisphere ceratosaurs evolved feeding mechanics paralleling those of Northern hemisphere tyrannosaurids
Carrano, M. T. & Sampson, S. D. The phylogeny of ceratosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda). J. Syst. Paleontol. 6, 183–236…
We Evolved Something Else Instead
Humans are the only primates that run nearly naked under the sun. Here’s how this biological tradeoff reshaped…