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Evolution

An illustration of a mother and calf Janjucetus dullardi, a newly discovered tiny whale species with a sharp bite

Cool Finds

Newly Discovered Prehistoric Whale Is ‘Deceptively Cute’—It’s Tiny but Has a Mouth Full of Razor-Sharp Teeth

Found on the southern coast of Australia, the species could fill gaps in scientists’ understanding of baleen whale evolution

Throughout time, women and children have processed food on a daily basis, playing a central role in the story of human survival and evolution.

Through Much of Human History, Women Have Shaped Evolution Through Food Processing

An anthropologist highlights the revolutionary role of the practice, which was often led by women, and was just as crucial to surviving and thriving as hunting

Two adult female mountain gorillas rest with one of their infants.

Female Gorillas Form Ties That Bind, Helping Them Join New Social Groups

A new study finds that when female mountain gorillas move to a new crowd, they look for females they’ve already met

A fateful meeting between ancestors of tomatoes and potatoes allowed for the growth of tubers, the edible part of potatoes today, according to a new study.

The Potato May Have Evolved From a Tomato Ancestor Nine Million Years Ago, Genetic Study Suggests

A genome analysis indicates wild tomatoes and a potato-like plant called Etuberosum hybridized to create the modern potato

The whole Pulaosaurus qinglong skeleton

Cool Finds

Rare Fossil Suggests Some Dinosaurs May Have Sounded Like Birds and Shared Similar Vocal Anatomy

Pulaosaurus qinglong is only the second non-avian dinosaur to be discovered with a preserved bony voice box

Researchers found fragments of fossils representing prehistoric mollusks, crustaceans and worms among rocks at the Grand Canyon.

Trove of Fossils Uncovered in the Grand Canyon Offers a Rare Glimpse Into Cambrian Life, With Toothy Worms and Slug-Like Mollusks

Rocks found along the Colorado River in Arizona turned out to contain fossilized fragments of soft-bodied creatures, suggesting the site may have been an “evolutionary hotbed”

A Late Neolithic skull. For the recent study, scientists extracted DNA from skulls and teeth to look for traces of diseases.

With Ancient DNA, Scientists Have Mapped 37,000 Years of Disease Across Europe and Asia

Zoonoses—diseases that spread from animals to humans—began to gain prevalence some 6,500 years ago with the rise of animal husbandry, a new study suggests

For the experiments, the scientists worked with plain-body octopuses (Callistoctopus aspilosomatis).

Octopuses Fall for the Rubber Hand Illusion, Just Like Humans, Pointing to a Sense of Body Ownership

The trick that plays with awareness of one’s own limb appeared to fool all six of the cephalopods tested in a series of experiments

A scan of a Rosenberg's goanna (Varanus rosenbergi) reveals chain mail-like osteoderms and the endoskeleton in the left half of the image.

These Odd Bony Structures Were Hiding Beneath the Skin of Far More Lizards Than Thought, Researchers Find

Called osteoderms, the chain mail-like plates may have helped some species adapt to Australia’s harsh environment

For the first time ever, the genome of a knotty sea spider was sequenced in high resolution.

These ‘Weird’ Sea Spiders Don’t Have Abdomens—and Instead Store Organs in Their Legs. With DNA, Scientists Are Learning Why

Researchers sequenced the knotty sea spider’s genome for the first time, revealing a missing gene that many other animals have

Scientists are investigating the production of ancestral alkaloids by tomatoes in the Galápagos Islands.

Something Strange Is Happening to Tomatoes Growing on the Galápagos Islands

Scientists say wild tomato plants on the archipelago’s western islands are experiencing “reverse evolution” and reverting back to ancestral traits

Researchers found small Homo erectus fossils among other animal remains. 

A Massive Underwater Fossil Find Includes Remains From Ancient Human Ancestors

More than 6,000 animal fossils were found in Indonesia, and two of them belong to Homo erectus

A catch of Baltic Sea cod in 1987 shows fish that grew more than three feet long, with Finnish fisheries biologist Eero Kalevi Aro.

These Cod Have Been Shrinking Dramatically for Decades. Now, Scientists Say They’ve Solved the Mystery

Eastern Baltic cod grow to much smaller sizes than they did just 30 years ago, because overfishing altered their genes, according to new research

A 99-million-year-old fly encased in amber shows infection with a prehistoric zombifying fungus.

Rare Amber Fossils Capture ‘Zombie’ Fungus Infecting Insects During a Time When Dinosaurs Still Walked the Earth

An ant and fly from the Cretaceous period offer insights into the history of Ophiocordyceps, the fungal parasite made popular by HBO’s “The Last of Us”

Some sebecids grew to lengths of 20 feet.

After Crocs and Lemurs Went Extinct on the Mainland, Many Survived on Islands for Millions of Years

Isolation allows creatures to thrive as their relatives perish due to the threats present on much larger landmasses

Researchers revealed that differences in sloth habitats drove the wide variation in size seen in extinct species.

Giant Sloths the Size of Elephants Once Walked Along the Ground. Here’s How the Massive Animals Evolved and Declined

Researchers analyzed fossils and DNA to get a big-picture view of sloth evolution and determine what drove their immense size variation

Bedbugs that feed on humans experienced a sharp rise in numbers after the development of the first cities, according to new research.

Bedbugs Could Have Been the First Urban Pest to Plague Human Cities, New Study Suggests

Scientists examined the genomes of two bedbug lineages to trace how their population sizes have changed over time

Anna's hummingbirds seem to be thriving amid urbanization in California, even as other hummingbird species have declined due to human activity.

California’s Hummingbirds Have Changed Their Beaks in Response to Backyard Feeders, Study Finds

With plenty of artificial nectar available, Anna’s hummingbirds have expanded their range northward and their beaks have tended to become longer and larger

An artistic rendering of an early vertebrate being attacked by a sea-scorpion in dark waters

Our Teeth May Descend From Sensitive Bumps on Prehistoric Fish Armor, New Research Finds

Hundreds of millions of years ago, fish had sensory features on their exoskeletons that contained dentine, the material that makes our teeth sensitive today

Teacher John T. Scopes (second from left) stands in the courtroom during his trial for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in his high school science class.

A Century Ago, a High School Teacher From a Small Tennessee Town Ignited a National Debate Over Human Evolution

The Scopes “monkey trial” garnered international attention, and the battle that was fought continues in some form in other states today

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