Evolution

Bocydium globulare, a treehopper with an unusual, helicopter-like helmet.

Treehoppers’ Bizarre, Wondrous Helmets Use Wing Genes to Grow

The elaborate structures, which are not actually wings, can resemble thorns, leaves, ants and more

An image from Birds of America by John James Audubon depicting the Great Auk.

Humans May Be Solely to Blame for the Great Auk’s Extinction

A new study suggests that the flightless birds were not declining due to environmental changes when humans began to hunt them in large numbers

Researchers Measure a Wild Blue Whale's Heart Rate for the First Time

The team found the world's largest mammal pushes its heart to its limits

Thanks to the ubiquity of electric light, less and less of the planet falls genuinely into darkness any more.

How Cities and Lights Drive the Evolution of Life

Urbanization and the spread of artificial light are transforming all of earth's species, bringing about a host of unintended consequences

Heliconius charithonia is one of the species of butterflies whose wing patterns scientists scrutinized to better understand the evolutionary process. This butterfly is wild-type; the genetically edited H. charithonia wings have wider swathes of yellow.

What Butterflies' Colorful Wing Patterns Can Teach Us About Evolution

Smithsonian scientists used genetically-engineered butterflies to learn that evolution can take a different path to achieve the same thing

Scientists Now Know Where the Largest Ape to Ever Exist Sits in Primate Family Tree

Proteins from a 1.9 million-year-old molar show that the 10-foot-tall 'Gigantopithecus' is a distant relative to modern orangutans

Life restoration of Fukuipteryx prima.

Newly Discovered Fossil Bird Fills in Gap Between Dinosaurs and Modern Fliers

A skeleton from the Cretaceous found in Japan reveals an early bird with a tail nub resembling the avians of today

The 21 bones of the most complete partial skeleton of a male Danuvius guggenmosi.

New Ancient Ape Species Rewrites the Story of Bipedalism

<i>Danuvius guggenmosi</i>, a “totally new and different” species of ape, would have moved through the trees using its forelimbs and hindlimbs equally

This is a European shore crab in the wild. Crabs like this were used in the study to complete mazes.

Crabs Can Learn to Navigate Mazes, Too

A new study highlights the cognitive abilities of an understudied animal

CGI rendering of ancient Loxolophus mammal taken from the PBS NOVA special, Rise of the Mammals. In this recreation, Loxolophus scavenges for food in the palm dominated forests found within the first 300,000 years after the dinosaur extinction.

Fossil Site Reveals How Mammals Thrived After the Death of the Dinosaurs

Recent discoveries highlight how mammals lived before and after the asteroid impact that triggered the world's fifth mass extinction

Trilobite Fossil Shows Animals Have Stood in Line for Hundreds of Millions of Years

A line of 480-million-year-old trilobites found in Morocco may be the earliest evidence of collective animal behavior

An Atlantic spotted dolphin swims behind a Pilot whale.

Shedding Genes Helped Whales and Dolphins Evolve for Life at Sea

When adopting an aquatic lifestyle, cetaceans ditched genetic code related to sleep, DNA restoration and more

Komodo Dragons Have Skin That Looks Like Chain Mail

CT scans show layered bone covers the adult reptile's body, likely to protect them when fighting for mates and food

The skull of the 1.77-million-year-old Stephanorhinus rhino.

1.7-Million-Year-Old Rhino Tooth Provides Oldest Genetic Information Ever Studied

Researchers read the proteins preserved in the tooth enamel of an ancient rhino, a trick that may allow them to sequence fossils millions of years old

Hundreds of Ancient Footprints Reveal a Snapshot of Neanderthal Family Life

A group of 257 footprints in Normandy come from 10 to 13 people, mostly children scampering around near the beach

An artist's depiction of an asteroid impacting the Earth.

What Happened the Day a Giant, Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Hit the Earth

Using rock cores from Chicxulub crater, geologists piece together a new timeline of the destruction that followed impact

Wolves Gave Tibetan Mastiffs Their Mountaineering Genes

The big, shaggy dogs of the Himalayas are 50 percent more efficient at transporting hemoglobin than lowland pooches

Dog Breeding Has Changed Pooches’ Brains

A new study has found that key anatomical differences in dogs’ brains are linked to the behaviors they were bred to perform

The remarkably complete skull of a human ancestor of the genus Australopithecus fills in some of the gaps in the human evolutionary tree.

A 3.8-Million-Year-Old Skull Puts a New Face on a Little-Known Human Ancestor

The cranium of a male <i>Australopithecus anamensis</i>, a close relative of Lucy, provides clues about one of the earliest hominins to walk on two legs

Blindfolded insect larvae opted to perch on twigs matching their body coloring about 80 percent of the time

These Caterpillars Can Detect Color Using Their Skin, Not Their Eyes

In experiments, peppered moth caterpillars successfully camouflaged themselves even when blindfolded

Page 11 of 40