- Explore more »
Why Are Humans Primates?
People may seem very different from lemurs, monkeys and apes, but all primates share a few key physical and behavioral characteristics
October 29, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Scientific Illustrations: Your Go-To Guides for Halloween Costumes
The details are what separate a good outfit from an amazing one. The images in the Biodiversity Heritage Library can help you make the leap
October 26, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Fossilized Shoulder Reveals Early Hominids Climbed Trees
The shoulder blades of a 3.3-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis child suggest the species spent at least some time in the treetops
October 25, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Feathery Ostrich Mimics Enfluffle the Dinosaur Family Tree
A trio of feathered dinosaurs tests a longstanding hypothesis and hint that there may be more feathered dinosaur fossils than anyone ever expected
October 25, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
The Mystery of Human Blood Types
The ABO blood group evolved at least 20 million years ago, but scientists still don't understand the purpose of blood types
October 22, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
14 Fun Facts About Hagfish
In honor of Hagfish Day, learn about the seemingly-disgusting creatures' gill-clogging slime and ability to digest dead carcasses through their skin
October 17, 2012 |
By Hannah Waters
Whatever Happened to Kenyanthropus platyops?
Scientists disagree over whether a 3.5-million-year-old skull is a flat-faced species of hominid or just a distorted example of Australopithecus afarensis
October 17, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Clues to Ape (and Human) Evolution Can Be Seen in Sinuses
Would sinus headaches be more bearable if humans had descended from Asian apes instead of African apes?
October 15, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
The Bat-Winged Dinosaur That Never Was
Just when naturalists began to suspect that birds might be dinosaurs, one researcher put forward a truly strange idea of what early bird ancestors would have looked like
October 11, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
The Top Ten Human Evolution Discoveries from Ethiopia
Home to Lucy, Ardi, the oldest stone tools, the first fossils of modern humans and many other discoveries, Ethiopia deserves the title of Cradle of Humankind
October 10, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Fossils Reveal Earliest Known Case of Anemia in Hominids
A 2-year-old child that lived 1.5 million years ago suffered from the blood disorder, which may suggest that hominids by this time were regularly eating meat
October 03, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
High Levels of Plastic and Debris Found in Waters off of Antarctica
In the world's most remote ocean waters, researchers discovered unexpectedly high levels of plastic pollution
October 03, 2012 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Becoming Human: The Origin of Stone Tools
Archaeologists are still debating when hominids started making stone tools and which species was the first toolmaker
October 01, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
What is North America’s Most Mysterious Bird?
Nesting behind waterfalls and in caves, the rarely seen black swift is only beginning to shed its secrets
October 2012 |
By Michelle Nijhuis
Winged Tapestries
Jim des Rivières' portraits of moths capture the insects' exquisite patterns
September 28, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
How to Retrace Early Human Migrations
Anthropologists rely on a variety of fossil, archaeological, genetic and linguistic clues to reconstruct how people populated the world
September 26, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Science Images that Border on Art
This year's Wellcome Image Award winners pull at your "art" strings. The curious seek out the science behind them
September 26, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Do Feathers Reveal Neanderthal Brainpower?
Neanderthals may have used feathers as personal ornaments, which suggests our cousins were capable of symbolic expression
September 24, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Same Gene Guides Cheetah and Tabby Cat Coat Patterns
A mutation in one gene produces tabby cats with blotches and cheetahs with stripes
September 20, 2012 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Rock of Gibraltar: Neanderthals’ Last Refuge
Gibraltar hosted some of the last-surviving Neanderthals and was home to one of the first Neanderthal fossil discoveries
September 19, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
