
Earliest Human Ancestor May Have Walked on Two Legs
A fossil belonging to an ancient hominin that lived seven million years ago bears the hallmarks of bipedalism, according to a new study

Earliest Human Ancestor May Have Walked on Two Legs
A fossil belonging to an ancient hominin that lived seven million years ago bears the hallmarks of bipedalism, according to a new study

Ancient humans were making fire 350,000 years earlier than scientists realized
Making fire on demand was a milestone in the lives of our early ancestors. But the question of when that skill first arose has been difficult for scientists to pin down


Kissing May Have Evolved 21.5 Million Years Ago
Humans and their ancestors have likely been kissing for a very long time

The mind-bending challenge of warning future humans about nuclear waste
Designing nuclear-waste repositories is part engineering, part anthropology—and part mythmaking

How to send a message to future civilizations
When written knowledge is more ephemeral than ever, how can we pass on what’s important?

Ancient incense, cosmetics and mummies: Scientists sniff out the scents of the past
How can reconstructing long-lost smells of ancient artifacts help us connect with the past?

3 Ways Jane Goodall Challenged What It Means to Be a Scientist
Here are three big ways that Jane Goodall transformed science

Jane Goodall, Trailblazing Primatologist and Chimpanzee Conservationist, Has Died
The anthropologist was famous for her pioneering research with chimpanzees and her influence on conservation

How Humans Became Upright: Key Changes to Our Pelvis Found
Genetic and anatomical data reveal how the human pelvis acquired its unique shape, enabling our ancestors to walk on two legs

4,800-Year-Old Teeth Yield First Human Genome from Ancient Egypt
Forty years after the first effort to extract mummy DNA, researchers have finally generated a full genome sequence from an ancient Egyptian, who lived when the earliest pyramids were built

First Near-Complete Denisovan Skull Reveals What This Ancient Human Cousin Looked Like
A Denisovan skull has been identified for the first time. The find was based on proteins and calcified dental plaque

Ancient DNA Reveals Phoenicians’ Surprising Ancestry
Phoenician civilization spread its culture and alphabet across the Mediterranean but not, evidently, its DNA