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DNA

Redback spiders live throughout Australia.

Here’s Why These Male Spiders Sacrifice Themselves by Somersaulting Into Females’ Fangs While Mating

A new study suggest that even strange, complex animal behaviors can have a relatively simple genetic basis

A new study, which has not been peer reviewed, suggests Denisovans might have towered over their ancient hominin peers.

Thousands of Years Ago, Denisovans Might Have Been Huge, Especially Compared to Their Archaic Human Neighbors

New research offers rare insight into our extinct cousins who lived in Asia and who may have towered over petite “Homo erectus”

Some modern humans might be taller and more muscular because of a Neanderthal-derived gene variant that affects the growth hormone pathway.

Got a Brawny Build? You Might Be Able to Thank Your Neanderthal Ancestors, According to a New Study

New research hints that some living people inherited a gene variant from Neanderthals that has made them slightly taller and more muscular than their peers

Previous research hinted at ghost ancestry in our DNA, but the new work helps pinpoint the timeline of when the ancient relatives' genetic material entered our genomes.

Traces of Two Extinct ‘Ghost’ Ancestors Were Found Hiding in Modern Human DNA, Hinting at Our Extremely Complex Family Tree

Researchers used a new method to investigate past interbreeding with Homo sapiens that doesn’t require ancient DNA. The technique identified areas of living humans’ genomes that came from unknown hominins, including one from a 1.8-million-year-old lineage

A collection of mammoth bones in a pit in Austria

Ice Age Humans Mostly Killed Female Woolly Mammoths, Suggests Ancient DNA

After analyzing more than 500 mammoth bones, researchers found that ancient humans disproportionately hunted female mammoths for reasons still unknown

Handedness refers to both hand preference and hand dominance. 

People Aren’t Born as Righties or Lefties—They Develop Hand Dominance With Practice, a New Study Suggests

Humans do have a biological preference for using one side of their body, which might prime them for using limbs on that side for complex motor tasks like writing—and honing those skills over time

A fragment of the Hillsborough meteorite

This Meteorite Crashed Into a New Jersey Home in 2024. Now, Scientists Say It Contains Some of the Building Blocks of Life

The Hillsborough meteorite belongs to a rare class of rocks from space, according to a new study. It holds amino acids and other organic compounds, as well as evidence of salty water

The sugar was detected near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, which shines brightly with stars in this artificially colored image.

In a First, Astronomers Find Sugar in the Space Between Stars, Providing New Clues About the Origins of Life on Earth

Sugars are crucial components of RNA and DNA, the basis of all known organisms alive today. In a new study, the sugar erythrulose was detected in a gas- and dust-filled cloud near the center of our Milky Way galaxy

Left: a burial mound in Kazakhstan. Right: the Golden Man's head ornaments.

Kazakhstan’s Iron Age ‘Golden Man’ and Other Elite Scythians of Eurasia Inherited Their High Social Status, Ancient DNA Suggests

Researchers have long wondered whether upper-class members of the ancient nomadic warriors earned their social status through individual achievements or birthright

Francesco I de' Medici, left, died suddenly in 1587. His brother Ferdinando I, right, succeeded him as grand duke of Tuscany.

Did This Duke Poison His Brother? A New DNA Analysis May Solve the Centuries-Old Medici Mystery

Researchers found evidence of malaria in Francesco I de’ Medici’s bones, leading them to argue “with scientific certainty” that it was disease, not arsenic, that led to his death in 1587

Microscope images of an artificial cell, colored green, dividing into two

Scientists Say They’ve Made Cells That Feed, Grow and Reproduce, Bringing Them One Step Closer to Building Life From Scratch

The human-made cells show many hallmarks of life, but they can’t make all their necessary internal structures or divide for very many generations

Some of the Neanderthal remains that were analyzed in the new study

Why Did Neanderthals Go Extinct? Inbreeding Probably Wasn’t to Blame for Their Demise in Northwestern Europe, a Study Suggests

In contrast to those who resided in Siberia, Neanderthals who lived in what’s now Belgium and France shortly before the species vanished seem to have been genetically diverse and healthy

Researchers recovered environmental DNA from ancient ground squirrel poop.

Researchers Investigated Ancient Squirrel Poop Frozen in Permafrost and Found Enlightening Details About the Animal’s Ecosystem

Up to 700,000 years ago, ground squirrels in modern-day Canada collected tons of helpful genetic information on their bygone environment through their diet

Elisenda of Montcada founded the Royal Monastery of St. Mary of Pedralbes in 1327. She was buried there after her death in 1364.

Archaeologists Excavating a Monastery in Spain Identified the Remains of a 14th-Century Queen—and Multiple Skeletons Buried in the Wrong Graves

The tomb of Elisenda of Montcada has long fascinated experts. But the team was surprised to learn that burials supposedly belonging to a medieval knight and abbess held entirely different individuals

The exterior of the reconstructed chapel in Historic St. Mary's City, Maryland

Groundbreaking DNA Analysis Identifies 1.3 Million Living Relatives of Colonial Maryland’s Earliest Settlers

Experts compared DNA from 49 skeletons buried in a cemetery in St. Mary’s City to genetic data shared by 11.5 million 23andMe users. They also identified what may be the remains of the colony’s second governor

Tuerkayana hirtipes, a true crab species examined in the study

When Did Crabs Evolve Their Iconic Sideways Scuttle? Scientists Traced It to a Common Ancestor That Lived 200 Million Years Ago

The findings suggest that their famous lateral movement evolved just once. It may have helped the animals rapidly spread and diversify because moving in two directions meant they could easily escape predators

A 19th-century painting of HMS Erebus, one of two ships involved in John Franklin's 1845 expedition to the Arctic

New Research

This Sailor From the Franklin Expedition Died in the Arctic in a Uniform That Didn’t Belong to Him. Now, DNA Has Revealed His Identity

New research has identified four members of the doomed 1845 search for the Northwest Passage, including the owner of a paper-stuffed wallet that has long mystified historians

About 47 percent of wolves in Italy are considered wolf-dog hybrids, according to a recent genetic analysis.

Nearly Half of Italy’s Wolves Are Part Dog Now, Thanks to Hybridization. Is That a Threat to the Species?

Wolf-dog hybrids are growing far more common in Italy, raising scientists’ concerns for the future of the wolves

Scientists now think humans settled South America in three waves.

A New Big Database of DNA From Indigenous Americans Shakes Up Scientists’ Theories About Human Settlement of South America

Genomic data provides evidence for a previously unknown wave of migration, with Indigenous groups living in central and southern Mexico spreading into South America and the Caribbean starting around 1,300 years ago

New research indicates that Neanderthals had the genetic hardware for language.

Did Neanderthals Have Language? New Research Suggests They Had the Genetic Hardware for It, Like Humans

Specific genomic regions that seem to play a role in human language development evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago, before humans and Neanderthals diverged from a common ancestor, a new study finds

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