Evolutionary Biology

Light pollution is dangerous for birds flying over towns and cities. Here’s how you can help

Fossil jaws from colossal octopuses place them at the top of a prehistoric marine food chain

A new study links genetic regions that predate the divergence of modern humans and Neanderthals to language

Even before water reaches them, the sound of droplets triggers germination in rice plants

A new study in songbirds might help explain why humans don’t generate many new brain cells, called neurons, as adults

How a few unique traits helped modern-style birds—the last living dinosaurs—survive the asteroid apocalypse that took out T. rex and other mighty beasts

Laying eggs may have helped mammal ancestors thrive after Earth’s worst mass extinction

A treasure trove of fossils from China shows that the Cambrian explosion may have been less explosive than scientists once believed

Humans are the only species that has chins. A recent study sheds light on how that came to be and why evolution doesn’t always follow the rules

Whether it’s a canary’s chirp or a treefrog’s croak, humans tend to prefer many of the same sounds that animals do themselves, a new study finds

Scientists just discovered a new species of magic mushroom, Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, that appears to have shared a common ancestor with the popular Psilocybe cubensis some 1.5 million years ago

New insights into a tiny, tough microbe have huge implications for the search for life beyond Earth