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Evolution

Creating a phylogeny of all bird life will help researchers map birds' evolutionary relationships and create conservation plans.

New Research

What We Can Learn From a New Bird Tree of Life

Sequencing the DNA of more than 10,000 birds could reveal how best to conserve our feathery friends—and when they evolved from dinosaurs

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

Fossil ostracods on a slide from the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The science team behind the recent Nature paper relied heavily on this collection for their analysis.

What the Large Penises of Tiny Crustaceans Tell Us About Evolution

Massive male sex organs have their perks, but in the long run, a little modesty pays

An x-ray of a Whiskered Prowfish (Neopataecus waterhousii), which has a "lachrymal saber." One species of waspfish features a saber that glows.

New Research

Why Did a Venomous Fish Evolve a Glowing Eye Spike?

A newly discovered “lachrymal saber” could illuminate relationships between an order of deadly fishes

New Research

Why Are Whales So Massive? It’s All About Energy

Marine mammal size is a delicate balance between chowing down and chilly waters

Regaliceratops peterhewsi, the “Hellboy Dinosaur”

New Research

Dinosaur Horns Were For Making Love, Not War

The elaborate horns and frills were more likely for attracting mates than fighting off enemies

Ali the Aardvark gets cozy as baby Winsol nurses at the Cincinnati Zoo. Ali is one of hundreds of animals whose milk samples are sent to the Smithsonian National Zoo’s milk repository for scientific research.

What Aardvark Milk Reveals about the Evolution of Lactation

Samples from the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Exotic Animal Milk Repository help scientists study the unifying trait of all mammals

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

New Research

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

New research sheds light on the stick spider's evolutionary history in Hawaii.

These Curious Spiders Evolved the Same Way Over and Over and Over Again

A new study suggests the stick spider evolved the same way in multiple different places

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.

Ask Smithsonian

What’s a “Missing Link”?

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

New Research

Termites Are Moving in With Cockroaches, Taxonomically

The wood-munching critters are technically just social roaches

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

New Research

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

Early Briton Had Dark Skin and Light Eyes, DNA Analysis Shows

The study of ‘Cheddar Man’ adds to a growing body of research that highlights the complexities of human skin color evolution

A full view of the oddball, Chimerarachne yingi.

Found: 100-Million-Year Old Arachnid with a Tail

The creepy-crawly is unlike any living spider

Artist concept of Mansourasaurus shahinae on a lush coastline of what is now the Western Desert of Egypt approximately 80 million years ago.

African Titanosaur Discovery Helps Untangle Dinosaur Evolution

The creature reveals ancient connection between Africa, Europe, and Asia after the great Pangea broke apart

English Bulldogs illustrate the dramatic turn dog evolution has taken at the hands of humans.

The Evolution of Petface

The same traits that make these dogs adorable threaten their health and well-being

Close-up view of the of jawbone, showing details of the crown topography and dental features.

New Research

Earliest Human Remains Outside Africa Were Just Discovered in Israel

If accepted as Homo sapien, the jaw-dropping jawbone would push back the human exodus out of Africa by nearly 100,000 years

The Oldest Known Butterflies Existed Before Flowers

A new study raises intriguing questions about the evolutionary trajectory of butterflies and moths

A scientific illustration of the Upward Sun River camp in what is now Interior Alaska.

New Research

Genetics Rewrites the History of Early America—And, Maybe, the Field of Archaeology

The genome of an infant from Upward Sun River, Alaska offers tantalizing insight into the story of human migration

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