Human Evolution
Did the Human Hand Evolve as a Lean Mean Bone-Smashing Machine?
Of nearly 40 things Pleistocene people might have done with their hands, getting to yummy marrow requires the most force and dexterity
Man With World's Longest Fingernails Finally Gets a Manicure
After growing out the nails on his left hand for 66 years, Shridhar Chillal has sold the 31 feet of keratin to Ripley's Believe It Or Not
Oldest Stone Tools Outside Africa Unearthed in China
Six artifacts date to 2.1 million years ago, potentially rewriting what we know about which species led the migration out of Africa
Ancient Toddler Was at Home on the Ground and in the Trees
The foot of a 2.5-year-old Austrolopithecus afarensis shows it had a grippy big toe that let it cling to its mom and climb tree trunks
Study Suggests There's No Limit on Longevity, But Getting Super Old Is Still Tough
After the age of 105, the odds of dying plateau, meaning it's possible to live beyond the current record of 123 years
Neanderthals Hunted in Groups, One More Strike Against the Dumb Brute Myth
The skeletons of deer killed 120,000 years ago offer more evidence of cooperative behavior and risk-taking among our hominin relatives
Some Animals Take Turns While Talking, Just Like Humans. Why?
Understanding their courteous exchanges—from frog croaks to elephant rumbles—could shed light on the origins of human conversation
Archaeologists Uncover 20,000-Year-Old Kangaroo Cook Out
The site in Pilbara is one of many helping to define human movements in Australia
Science Explains How the Iceman Resists Extreme Cold
MRI scans reveal that Wim Hof artificially induces a stress response in his brain
People Lived in This Cave for 78,000 Years
Excavations in Panga ya Saidi suggest technological and cultural change came slowly over time and show early humans weren't reliant on coastal resources
What Can Chimpanzee Calls Tell Us About the Origins of Human Language?
Scientists follow and record chimps in the wild to find out if they talk to each other—and to fill in details about how and why language evolved in humans
How Do Scientists Identify New Species? For Neanderthals, It Was All About Timing and Luck
Even the most remarkable fossil find means nothing if scientists aren’t ready to see it for what it is
Human Cell Atlas Releases First Major Data Set
The information includes data from over half a million immune cells from human cord blood and bone marrow
How to Talk With Evangelicals About Evolution
For two years, researchers from the Smithsonian traveled the country explaining the science of our shared origins
Expressive Eyebrows May Have Given Modern Humans an Evolutionary Edge
A new study explores why ancient humans had pronounced brow ridges, and why they eventually lost them
Rare 85,000-year-old Finger Bone Complicates Our Understanding of African Migration
The fossil builds on the theory that humans left Africa in multiple waves, and suggests they made it as far as the Arabian Desert
Colored Pigments and Complex Tools Suggest Humans Were Trading 100,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Believed
Transformations in climate and landscape may have spurred these key technological innovations
How Cheese, Wheat and Alcohol Shaped Human Evolution
Over time, diet causes dramatic changes to our anatomy, immune systems and maybe skin color
What’s a "Missing Link"?
While some still use the term, experts abhor it because it implies that life is a linear hierarchy
What a Walking Fish Can Teach Us About Human Evolution
New research on the little skate reveals the genes it shares with land animals—and a common ancestor from 420 million years ago
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