How to Make a Hippogriff Fly and Other Flights of Fancy
A paleontologist and an illustrator team up to make mythical creatures follow biomechanical rules
Evolution11742 articles archived since 1845
Boston’s Pigeons Coo, ‘Wicked’; New York’s Birds Coo, ‘Fuhgeddaboudit’
The two cities’ rock doves are genetically distinct, research shows.
The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Created the Amazon Rain Forest
Fossilized pollen and leaves reveal that the meteorite that caused the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs also reshaped South America’s plant communities to yield the planet’s largest rain forest...
A Tsunami Likely Hurled Huge Rocks onto a Tiny Island
A Caribbean island’s giant rocks were thought to be deposited by enormous waves
Chimpanzees Show Altruism while Gathering around the Juice Fountain
New research tries to tease out whether our closest animal relatives can be selfless
That Mouse in Your House—It’s Smarter, Thanks to You
Scientists studied three varieties of house mice and found that those who had lived alongside humans the longest were also the craftiest at solving food puzzles. Christopher Intagliata reports...
Prehistoric Plankton Became Predators to Survive a Mass Extinction
When the sun disappeared, tiny coccoliths turned to hunting
Neandertals Probably Perceived Speech Quite Well
Could they speak, too? Did they proposition modern humans in an interspecies creole language?
An Ancient Proto-City Reveals the Origin of Home
The 9,000-year-old settlement of Çatalhöyük in Turkey shows how humans began putting down roots
Dinosaur Discoveries Are Booming
Fossils are being found worldwide, and there are plenty more to come
Mammoth Genomes Shatter Record for Oldest DNA Sequences
Researchers extracted DNA from fossils that are more than a million years old, illuminating the origins of the woolly mammoth and the Columbian mammoth
Evolution Could Explain Why Psychotherapy May Work for Depression
Persistent rumination may be an attribute that lets us think our way out of despair—a process enhanced through talk therapy
Neandertalized ‘Mini Brains’ Yield Clues to Modern Human Uniqueness
Experiments on clusters of cultured cells hint that a gene variant found only in Homo sapiens profoundly changed brain development in our species, compared with our extinct relatives...
How Evolution Helps Us Understand Cancer and Control It
Cells need to cooperate to coexist in people, and when some break the rules, cancer results
Ancient Dogs Had Complex Genetic Histories
Some dog population genetics show similarities to ours, such as in the ability to digest grains. But other lineages differ.
The Evolutionary Origins of Friendship
The emergence of this crucial kind of relationship relied on the ability to recognize the unique benefits others have to offer
The World’s Oldest Animal Paintings Are on This Cave Wall
Depictions of pigs found in Indonesia date back at least 45,500 years
Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal
The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution
Humans May Have Befriended Wolves with Meat
Unlike humans, wolves can subsist on protein alone for months—so scientists say we may have lobbed leaner leftovers their way. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Dog Domestication May Have Begun because Paleo Humans Couldn’t Stomach the Original Paleo Diet
Unable to digest large amounts of protein, hunters likely left scraps that could have led to the taming of wolves
