Evolution (Page 9)

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

Latest in Evolution

How vampire bats evolved to get the most out of their bloody diets

By Kate Baggaley

A galloping horse.

Ancient sea creatures pioneered the gallop

By Kate Baggaley

Prehistoric vampire squid swimming in the Paleozoic ocean in an illustration

Slap another cephalopod on the vampire squid’s family tree

By Lauren J. Young

An orange starfish on a rock.

Classifying invertebrates is hard. Butts can help.

By Philip Kiefer

a brown bat in flight

The secret to these bats’ hunting prowess is deep within their ears

By Kate Baggaley

A fossil with a series of diagonal slashes cut into one corner.

Eating meat may not have been as crucial to human evolution as we thought

By Philip Kiefer

Paleontological researchers on a volcanic mound in Ethiopia's Kibish Formation, where some of the oldest Homo sapiens have been discovered

Eastern Africa’s oldest human fossils are more ancient than we realized

By Kate Baggaley

A crab with huge eyes on the front of its face swimming after a shrimp with a big head.

This 90-million-year-old crab had the eyes of a hunter

By Philip Kiefer

Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs striking Earth. Illustration.

If that asteroid had been 30 seconds late, dinosaurs might rule the world and humans probably wouldn’t exist

By Sara Chodosh

an illustration of a marine reptile

These ancient marine reptiles got very big, very fast

By Kate Baggaley

a color illustration of a brown and white bird in a lush forest

This 120-million-year-old bird could stick out its tongue

By Kate Baggaley

A young harbor seal looking at the camera

Baby seals sing bass notes when they want attention

By Philip Kiefer

Baltimore checkerspot caterpillar curled up in a black and orange ball

Inflatable tentacles and silk hats: See how caterpillars trick predators to survive

By Erin Fennessy

an illustration of two human ancestors in africa

Is it time to change the way we talk about human evolution?

By Kate Baggaley

These female hummingbirds don flashy male feathers to avoid unwanted harassment

These female hummingbirds don flashy male feathers to avoid unwanted harassment

Here’s how hagfish slime gets 10,000 times bigger in 0.4 seconds

By Sara Chodosh

tetrapod fossil

Our four-legged ancestors evolved from sea to land astonishingly quickly

By Philip Kiefer

The weirdest things we learned this week: Falcon sex hats and buying human skulls on Instagram

The weirdest things we learned this week: Falcon sex hats and buying human skulls on Instagram

By Rachel Feltman

an illustration of a melting planet earth covered in lush trees and leaves

An ancient era of global warming could hint at our scorching future

Soldier termites marching

These photos are proof that evolution is wild and wondrous

By Popular Science Team

a colorful illustration of long-tailed gray rodents carrying assorted objects such as buttons, bones, bugs, and flowers

What’s in a packrat’s petrified pee? Just a few thousand years of secrets.

By Jason Bittel

an adult giraffe stands in the grass with a young giraffe

Giraffe grandmas help keep herds going

Mother and baby killer whale swimming in ocean with mountains in the background.

These killer whales go through menopause

Your Nose Is Bad At Warming Air

By Alexandra Ossola

Elizabeth Kolbert On The Vanishing Of Species

Elizabeth Kolbert On The Vanishing Of Species

A 3-D rendering of a human-like skull faces forward against a black background. The skull is a tan color and has a pronounced brow ridge, large nose cavity, and square-ish eye sockets. The lower jaw is absent.

The debate over ‘Dragon Man’ shows that human origins are still kind of messy

By Lauren Leffer

A furry looking, ground-hog like creature climbs onto a rock from the forest floor surrounded by leaf litter and tree saplings at night.

Elephants can add a cuddly new cousin to their family tree

By Lauren Leffer

A person wearing a baseball cap and tan jacket holds a pair of green, silver, and yellow pruning shears up to a tree branch, read to cut.

Humans have become the biggest selection force in evolution

By Lauren Leffer

How Ancient Human-Like “Hobbits” Got So Small

How Ancient Human-Like “Hobbits” Got So Small

By Grennan Milliken

The First Dogs May Have Been Domesticated In Central Asia

The First Dogs May Have Been Domesticated In Central Asia

By Grennan Milliken

A new finding raises an old question: Where and when did life begin?

A new finding raises an old question: Where and when did life begin?

Important Scientific Mystery Solved: How Birds Lose Their Penises

Important Scientific Mystery Solved: How Birds Lose Their Penises

By Lindsey Kratochwill

Scientists Rank World’s Most ‘Evolutionarily Distinct’ Birds

A primer to the primal origins of humans on Earth

A primer to the primal origins of humans on Earth

By Mary Beth Griggs

Why Can Humans See In Color?

Why Can Humans See In Color?

By Alexandra Ossola

illustration of hatchling lamprey

These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory

By Philip Kiefer

Aurora sky over icy winter forest at night

A geomagnetic curveball 42,000 years ago changed our planet forever

By Sara Kiley Watson

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration

Neanderthal genes are still helping humans today

By Claire Maldarelli

This ancient fish-crocodile mashup snared its prey using a key adaptation

By Kate Baggaley

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration

How humans have adapted to the harshest environments

By Marion Renault

A shooting star in a night scene over the Arabian Desert

It’s a cosmic miracle that life on Earth’s lasted this long

By ToTyrrell/The Conversation

two people looking bored

There’s a right and wrong way to be bored

By Sara Chodosh

Dire wolves attacking prey and fighting off gray wolves.

Dire wolves are actually ice age mega-foxes

By Sara Kiley Watson

Red crab on water.

Why everything eventually becomes a crab

By Sara Kiley Watson

Tim Enthoven illustration

Why do cats purr?

By Marion Renault

infected human cell

How the COVID-19 pandemic might end

By Wendy Orent/Undark

A reconstruction of Ambopteryx in a glide.

Dinosaurs may have evolved into birds, but early flights didn’t go so well

By Kate Baggaley

A yellow fever mosquito discretely sinks its labrum into its prey

Evolution made mosquitos into stealthy, sensitive vampires

By Erica McAlister

A green frog from Madascagar sits on a leaf.

What hundreds of pickled frog carcasses can tell us about their enormous eyes

By María Paula Rubiano A.

Myobatrachus gouldii live, in situ, Kalbarri National Park, WA.

These buff frogs never skip arm day

By Sara Kiley Watson

Highland wild dog.

New Guinea singing dogs still roam the wilderness

By Sara Kiley Watson

Humans owe our evolutionary success to friendship

By Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods

Sled pulled by dogs.

Humans have partnered with sled dogs for 9,500 years

By Sara Kiley Watson

Big Q body parts

Why your body looks so weird

By Ellen Airhart

An inch-long bogong moth covers hundreds of miles of Australian terrain to return to its birthplace.

Animals have mysterious ways of finding their way back home

By Purbita Saha

Renaud Vigourt illustration

No one knows what a perfect night’s sleep actually looks like

By Claire Maldarelli

Adalatherium hui

This ‘crazy beast’ is unlike any mammal we’ve ever seen

By Sara Kiley Watson

Why we evolved to feel empathy during pandemics and other disasters

By Peter Sterling/MIT Press Reader

This timeline shows just how insignificant humans are

By Nicole Wetsman

Rhinos with oxpeckers on their back.

Rhinos pay a painful price for oxpecker protection

By Sara Kiley Watson

Close-up of modern flax cordage showing twisted fibre construction

An ancient bit of yarn suggests Neanderthals were super crafty

By Sara Kiley Watson

A mandrill baboon in a zoo

Social distancing works—just ask lobsters, ants, and vampire bats

By Hawley & Buck/The Conversation

Anotheca spinosa skull

These spiky frog skulls look more like dinosaur fossils

By Sara Kiley Watson

Yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse.

Meet the highest mouse on Earth

By Sara Kiley Watson