Human Evolution

Behaviors requiring the most pressure were smashing bones for marrow and producing flint flakes

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

The foot bones of an Australopithecus Afarensis toddler show that the species retained some ape-like traits.

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

The Fountain of Youth, Lucas Cranach the Elder

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

Contrary to popular beliefs, Neanderthals lived in complex societies and hunted prey cooperatively.

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

Elephants communicate in low rumbles, each listening for the resulting vibrations in the ground with their feet.

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

For most humans, meditating in the snow would be highly uncomfortable. For Wim Hof, it's euphoric. Note: Wim Hof not pictured.

Science Explains How the Iceman Resists Extreme Cold

MRI scans reveal that Wim Hof artificially induces a stress response in his brain

Panga ya Saidi

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

Nisarg Desai observes wild chimps known as Sandi, Ferdinand and Siri in Tanzania.

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

Though the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may seem pronounced, scientists didn't always embrace the idea that humans evolved from other species.

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

Immune system natural killer cell

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

Human evolution is “one of the highest hurdles — if not the highest hurdle — to science education in America,” says Smithsonian's Rick Potts. Here, an early human fossil found in Broken Hill, Zambia.

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

Several views of a fossilized finger bone found Al Wusta site, Saudi Arabia.

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

These black- and red-colored pigments reveal that humans were using pigments, potentially to communicate status or identity, by around 300,000 years ago.

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

Human evolution is ongoing, and what we eat is a crucial part of the puzzle.

How Cheese, Wheat and Alcohol Shaped Human Evolution

Over time, diet causes dramatic changes to our anatomy, immune systems and maybe skin color

The handbones seen in the whale model in the center of this image tell the curious story of how whales went from land to water.

What’s a "Missing Link"?

While some still use the term, experts abhor it because it implies that life is a linear hierarchy

The genetics of the little skate changes our understanding of vertebrate evolution, from ocean to land-dweller.

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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