Evolutionary Biology

A fossil discovery of a joint-legged animal foreshadows the appearance of giant filter-feeding sharks and whales in more recent times

As longtime readers may have noticed, I have an abiding interest in Neandertals. To help me keep up with the latest scientific insights into these mysterious relatives of ours, I have a Google alert set for "Neandertal" (and the alternate spelling, "Neanderthal").

I'm feeling the urge to blog about lizards. So, today I'd like to talk about the Aprasia species, a group of short-tailed, near-limbless gekkotans that belong to the Australian Pygopodidae family, the so-called flapfoots, flap-footed lizards or pygopods.

A new proposal pegs the start of the Anthropocene to the little ice age and the Columbian Exchange

Bonobo poop matters. Well, maybe not the poop itself, but what's in it. You see, bonobos eat a lot of fruit, and fruit contains seeds. Those seeds travel through a bonobo's digestive system while the bonobo itself travels through the landscape.

A new genetic analysis reveals a massive migration from the central Asian grasslands into Europe 4,500 years ago—implying that some languages followed. Christopher Intagliata reports

Each year it seems a little less like science fiction to ask your phone for advice about local chinese food or trust your car to get you to a new location.

Hey there, pretty bird. Welcome back. We've missed your jersey caramel colours and big, brown eyes since pretty much forever. What's new with us?

Jen-Luc Piquant was at the APS March Meeting in San Antonio, Texas this week, a longtime favorite conference, and often touted as the largest physics conference of the year, covering a diverse range of topics: biophysics, fluid mechanics, materials (exotic or otherwise), complex systems, quantum mechanics — it’s a treasure trove of cool cutting-edge physics.

Whale females, like humans, live well past menopause, a trait possibly selected for because their knowledge base can help their entire clan survive. Dina Fine Maron reports

A 2.8-million-year mandible and a digital model of a key fossil paint a complicated picture of the genus Homo

It may have hidden in the ocean for millions of years, but life today poses numerous challenges for the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), the "living fossil" fish that was famously rediscovered off the coast of South Africa in 1938.