Evolution

The latest science on how life has adapted and changed over generations—and how new species come to be.

Latest in Evolution

african american male hand showing empty palm and handshake gesture on blue isolated background, closeup

Why 90% of us are right-handed

By Popular Science Team

An orangutan smiling.

Great apes (including us) have been giggling for 15 million years

By Laura Baisas

ancient teeth in a cave

Burial site of all-female extinct human relatives baffles scientists

By Laura Baisas

a 3D illustration of sperm cells, with white rounds heads and long, wavy tails

Fruit fly sperm is enormous

By Laura Baisas

A group of dwarf mongooses under threat from a rival group.

Dwarf mongooses don’t just wait for danger

By Margherita Bassi

four baby birds with long beaks on the back of a larger bird

6 animal fathers who go the distance

By Laura Baisas

A colorized vintage black and white film still showing a man walking in pajamas down a hallway and a young boy hiding from him at the side.

Why only humans sleepwalk

By Jennifer Byrne

a humpback whale breaches in the arabian sea with desert hills in the distance

For the first time, biologists observe a humpback whale crossing the Arabian Sea

By Laura Baisas

Illustration showing baby fish-crocodile animals swimming in an ancient sea.

Baby crocodile-like fossils just blew up a long-held evolution theory

an illustration of a small animal with its mouth open next to a dead animals as a volcano erupts

Watch an exclusive clip from new PBS series ‘EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA’

By Laura Baisas

a horseshoe crab at the water's edge glows blue under UV light

8 captivating photos of Delaware Bay’s annual horseshoe crab spawn

By Avery Schluyer Nunn

whale fossils on the bottom of the ocean

745-mile whale graveyard found at the bottom of Indian Ocean

By Laura Baisas

Artist's impression of a Ediacaran animal community. Credit: Hugo Salais

Sex jumpstarted Earth’s animal biodiversity

fossilized poop in a layer of rock

700,000-year-old squirrel poop helps scientist recreate an ancient world

By Laura Baisas

a woman in a boat holds a very large fish

Sturgeon sex creates thundering noise in New York

By Margherita Bassi

The new microraptor dinosaur Jian changmaensis (left) attacks the early bird Gansus yumenensis (right) in what is now the Changma Basin of northwestern China approximately 120 million years ago. Credits: illustration by Lewis LaRosa, colorized by Jão Canola.

Velociraptor’s cousin flew like a flying squirrel

an illustration of a large scorpion standing on a marsh

World’s biggest scorpions were the size of baseball bats

By Laura Baisas

a green insect with a wind that looks like a leaf stands on a stick

Big wings and sweet songs: The mating lives of Panama’s katydids

By Laura Baisas

Beautiful female eye in close-up with light blue iris details

Humans have weirdly white eyes. Here’s why.

By Sarah Philip

a mosquito biting human skin

Mosquitoes can learn that DEET means dinner is served

By Laura Baisas