A new study has rewritten the conventionally understood evolutionary history of certain ion channels -- proteins critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system. The study shows that the ...

A large comparative study of primate teeth shows that grooves once linked to ancient human tooth-picking can form naturally, while some common modern dental problems appear uniquely human.

All life on Earth shares a common ancestor that lived roughly four billion years ago. This so-called "last universal common ...

Researchers describe a rare type of gene family, known as “universal paralogs”, that provides insight into evolutionary history predating the last universal common ancestor of all life. Detailed ...

In a recent review published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, researchers discussed the role of climatic shifts and vegetation changes in driving the evolution within the subfamily ...

Bears look like textbook mammals, but hidden in their evolutionary history are two dramatic departures from the standard blueprint of growth and adaptation. For the first time, scientists have ...

Deep under the Jurassic rock beds of New South Wales, scientists discovered fossilized insects that push back the history of one of the world’s most hardy families of flies. These fragile traces, ...

The story of primates is a tale of incredible variety and ancient roots, told through the lens of science, DNA, and time itself. These creatures, ranging from massive gorillas to tiny mouse lemurs, ...

Sauropod dinosaurs, renowned for their immense size and distinctive body plan, represent one of the most successful groups of terrestrial herbivores in Earth's history. Emerging in the Early Jurassic ...

Demographic history reconstruction suggested that additional gene flow from Altaic people influenced the northernmost Han Chinese population. Complex biological adaptation signatures associated with ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Fossil discoveries unlock chapters of our planet’s storied ...