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Human Evolution

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

New Research

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

New Research

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.

New Research

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.

New Research

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

Cool Finds

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.

New Research

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

New Research

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

Trending Today

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.

New Research

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.

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

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

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

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

Music might be more universal than we thought.

New Research

Your Brain Knows What Songs Are For, No Matter Where They Came From

Researchers find that people easily recognize lullabies and dance songs from around the world

Cool Finds

Little Foot, the Most Complete Australopithecus Fossil, Goes on Display

After 20 years of excavation and cleaning, the 3.67-million year old hominin is ready for her closeup

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