Evolution

These articles explore evolution - the changes seen in the inherited traits of a population from one generation to the next. Evolution is one of the great mysteries of biology, since it is a slow process and difficult to study.

Learn More / Page 2

We're used to taking the phrase "survival of the fittest" to mean it's an "every man for himself" world. But some animals (like worker bees) sacrifice themselves to ensure their species lives on. Why would they do this?

By Dave Roos

If dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct, you wouldn't exist. Extinction may seem inherently bad, but sometimes the death of a species encourages new life.

By Karen Kirkpatrick

How did life on Earth begin? Theories abound, but one popular one posits that it started spontaneously from primordial ooze on our planet, while another holds that it literally came from outer space. Who's right?

By Josh Clark

Advertisement

Depending on whom and when you ask, everything from same-sex smooching to punk music portends the end of Western civilization. Do any of these cultural commentators have a case?

By Robert Lamb

A new global report says 1 million species are at risk of extinction — the greatest number in human history.

By Jonathan Strickland

Humans can certainly claim some of these, but sloths, giraffes and pandas wanted a piece of the action, too. The hyena adaptation, however, may just blow your mind.

By Kate Kershner

The Galapagos Islands may have played a grand role in Darwin's theory of evolution, but they're notable for more than their finches. What strange species populate these remote islands?

By Maria Trimarchi

Advertisement

Everyone knows that humans require food, water and shelter, but what about knowledge? It turns out that we have an innate, unquenchable need to seek out new things and new stimuli. Aren’t you curious?

By Josh Clark

You stub your toe, and it begins to throb almost immediately. You wince as the pain takes hold for a moment and you can't concentrate on anything else. But is some pain just in your head?

By Molly Edmonds

A gulf of difference may separate our human world of empires, science and spirituality from the animal wilds of the other great apes. But the genetic differences are pretty meager.

By Robert Lamb & Desiree Bowie

Everything has to start somewhere, including us humans. But where? Was it Africa, or were there multiple ground zeros for humanity's explosive growth and eventual world domination?

By Robert Lamb

Advertisement

Long before sonnets, sestinas and short stories were historical accounts of kings carved onto clay tablets. Who were the first writers and what did they scribble?

By Charles W. Bryant

The newly developed family tree of Earth’s 2.3 million species is a first draft of the 3.5-billion-year history of evolution.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The more we research our closest extinct human ancestor, the more we realize how similar we were. But could we have shared a joke?

By Jesslyn Shields

Were hobbits and giants real? And are they distant relatives of humans?

By Diana Brown

Advertisement

In Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species, he referred to a number of “vestiges” in human anatomy that he posited are remnants left over from the course of our species’ development over time. Darwin suggested that these vestigial organs are evidence of evolution and represent functions that were once necessary for our survival, but […] The post 10 Physical Human Traits That Evolution Has Made Obsolete appeared first on Goliath.

By Wes Walcott

New research shows that homo sapiens weren't the first folks to decorate their caves with artwork. Neanderthals actually did it thousands of years earlier.

By Alia Hoyt

You'd think being able to smell drinkable water would be an evolutionary advantage. But we can only smell things that suggest potable water. Why is that?

By Jesslyn Shields

Neanderthals may be long gone, but their genetic footprint lives on — in us.

By Robert Lamb

Advertisement

Since Charles Darwin published the theory of evolution by means of natural selection, myths and misinterpretations have eroded public understanding of his ideas. Ready to take another look at one of the related questions that just won't die?

By William Harris & Sascha Bos

Organisms not related to each other can develop similar physical attributes without even exchanging notes.

By Jesslyn Shields

Do we owe the emergence of language and self-reflection to the ancient and sustained consumption of psilocybin mushrooms?

By Robert Lamb & Austin Henderson

The question of exactly what is human consciousness and how it came to be in the human mind has raged forever between philosophers, religious scholars and scientists, but does the theory of the bicameral mind explain it?

By Robert Lamb

Advertisement

We make a big deal about modern humans being smarter than Neanderthals, but, really, are we?

By Jesslyn Shields

The flightless Aldabra rail lives exclusively on the Aldabra Atoll in Madagascar. But it appears to have descended from birds that soar.

By Mark Mancini