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

a man and woman sit close to each other and share a plate of pancakes

Your favorite brunch foods are thousands of years old

By Popular Science Team

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

Pablo Escobar’s invasive hippos could actually be good for the environment

By Sara Kiley Watson

Blessing of narwhals

The narwhal’s giant unicorn horn might help them find mates

By Sara Kiley Watson

A bioluminescent ponyfish with a light-generating organ in its esophagus.

Fish gave us legs—and four other finny facts

A tadpole of a gray tree frog sucks in a bubble full of oxygen.

Watch tiny tadpoles breathe by ‘bubble sucking’

By Purbita Saha

young women kissing

We might have started kissing to share chewed up food (and other delicious facts about smooching)

By Erin Blakemore

two fish side by side with one poking a bone into the other, but in a sexy way

This ancient bony fish was a sexual pioneer

By Rachel Feltman

Azawakh dog in the forest.

Meet the Azawakh, the latest breed to enter the Westminster Dog Show

By Sara Kiley Watson

White dog on blue background

Did humans truly domesticate dogs? Canine history is more of a mystery than you think.

A graceful orange cat with a long tail walking on green grass

Most humans don’t have tails. So why do we have the bones for it?

African grey parrot.

For some African grey parrots, sharing is caring

By Sara Kiley Watson

Homo erectus skull

The ‘granddaddy’ of all early hominins walked on Earth a lot longer than we thought

By Sara Kiley Watson

Baboon making sounds

Monkey mouth sounds could push the evolution of speech back by 27 million years

By Thomas R. Sawallis & Louis-Jean Boë/The Conversation

Why do some animals engage in same-sex sexual behavior? The better question is… why not?

Why do some animals engage in same-sex sexual behavior? The better question is… why not?

A controversial new study claims Botswana may be the origin of modern humanity

A controversial new study claims Botswana may be the origin of modern humanity

We may finally know why we can’t regrow limbs like newts and toads do

We may finally know why we can’t regrow limbs like newts and toads do

The weirdest things we learned this week: moving corpses, birth control placebos, and the story behind the hymen

The weirdest things we learned this week: moving corpses, birth control placebos, and the story behind the hymen

By Popular Science Team

The asteroid collision that changed life on Earth forever—without killing the dinosaurs

The asteroid collision that changed life on Earth forever—without killing the dinosaurs

By Birger Schmitz/The Conversation

Panic might be triggered by signals from your bones

Panic might be triggered by signals from your bones

Motion sickness is proof that your body is functioning as evolution intended

Motion sickness is proof that your body is functioning as evolution intended

By Spencer Salter/The Conversation

Evolution doesn’t work the way you think it does

Evolution doesn’t work the way you think it does

By Quentin Wheeler, Antonio G. Valdecasas & Cristina Cánovas/The Conversation

This three-foot-tall parrot proves New Zealand is the mecca of giant weird birds

This three-foot-tall parrot proves New Zealand is the mecca of giant weird birds

By Sara Chodosh

This ancient predator had claws like rakes and a body like a spaceship

This ancient predator had claws like rakes and a body like a spaceship

Everything you need to know about shark bites

Everything you need to know about shark bites

By Gavin Naylor/The Conversation

Gorillas can be cliquey, too. Here’s what that says about our own social lives.

Gorillas can be cliquey, too. Here’s what that says about our own social lives.

By Marion Renault

Natural selection can’t explain this bug’s bizarre horn

Natural selection can’t explain this bug’s bizarre horn

Scientists are still straightening out the history of zebra stripes

Scientists are still straightening out the history of zebra stripes

By Donavyn Coffey

highveld mole rat droptail ant

The naked mole rat’s furry cousin also feels no pain

By Sara Chodosh

Europeans looked down on Neanderthals—until they realized they shared their DNA

Europeans looked down on Neanderthals—until they realized they shared their DNA

By Angela Saini

Ancient fungi may have laid the groundwork for complex life

Ancient fungi may have laid the groundwork for complex life

By Katie Field/The Conversation

Scientists caught chimps smashing tortoises like walnuts for future snacking

Scientists caught chimps smashing tortoises like walnuts for future snacking

By Lydia Luncz, Alexander Piel, and Fiona Stewart/The Conversation

This ancient sea creature had 45 tubular tentacles and will haunt your dreams

This ancient sea creature had 45 tubular tentacles and will haunt your dreams

By Kaitlin Sullivan

Four-legged whales once straddled land and sea

Four-legged whales once straddled land and sea

By Jan Hoole/The Conversation

These Chinese fossil deposits shed light on an explosive period in evolution

These Chinese fossil deposits shed light on an explosive period in evolution

By Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams/The Conversation

Warblers live longer with a little child-rearing help from their friends

Warblers live longer with a little child-rearing help from their friends

By Eleanor Cummins

Human animal humanimal hand swan feeding

Rethinking what sets humans apart starts with asking if we’re special at all

By Adam Rutherford