Evolution
Awesome Dinos, Iffy Science Inhabit Jurassic World
Seven paleontologists weigh in on the science behind the summer blockbuster movie
Evolutionary Biology1968 articles archived since 1845
The Sciences
Ant Smells Like Blue Cheese for a Reason
The "odorous house ant" smells like blue cheese or rotten coconut because it produces chemical compounds similar to those found in its nose-sakes. Cynthia Graber reports ...
Evolution
The Most Momentous Year in the History of Paleoanthropology
In an excerpt from his new book Ian Tattersall lays out the story of how a scientific giant in the field of evolution put forth a spectacularly incorrect theory about the diversity of hominids...
The Sciences
Wild Chimps Seen Drinking Alcoholic Beverage
In west Africa researchers observed wild chimps seek out and drink fermented tree sap left outside by humans. Karen Hopkin reports
Evolution
75-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Soft Tissue Suggests Ancient Organic Preservation May Be Common
Researchers have found what appear to be collagen fibers and blood cells in unremarkable-looking fossils
Mind & Brain
Color You Remember Seeing Isn't What You Saw
People tend to remember a color they saw, for example green-blue teal, as being closer to a more stereotypical variant, such as straight blue or green. Karen Hopkin reports
Evolution
Animals Don't Use Facebook but They Have Social Networks, Too
Lee Dugatkin, evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist at the University of Louisville, talks about his article in the June Scientific American called "The Networked Animal," about how social networks in disparate animals species affect the lives of the entire group and its individual members...
Evolution
Book Review: The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Evolution
Swapping Symbionts Enabled Mediterranean Lichen to Conquer the Arctic
The miraculous recovery of a coral and the gargantuan range of a lichen may both result from the surprising evolutionary advantages their "alternative" lifestyles give them
Evolution
Chimps Would "Cook" Food If They Could
A new study suggests that chimps have the cognitive skills necessary for cooking—such as patience—even if they don't control fire. Christopher Intagliata reports
Environment
Global Warming Spawns Hybrid Species
Call it the "grolar bear" dilemma: Are hybrids caused by climate change bad for species?
Evolution
NOVA Evolution Lab
What could you possibly have in common with a mushroom, or a dinosaur, or even a bacterium? More than you might think.
The Richest Reef: Deep Diving into the Twilight Zone
A team of deep divers plunges into the “twilight zone,” a little-explored region of depth between 200 and 500 feet below the surface, with two goals: "catch fish" and "stay alive"...
Evolution
Alzheimer's Origins Tied to Rise of Human Intelligence
Factors that drove the evolution of our intellectual capacity are also implicated in the memory disorder
The Sciences
Why Do Some Animals Live Longer Than Others?
The key indicator for animals may be total energy expended over a lifetime
The Sciences
Top 10 Most Fascinating New Species Unveiled [Slide Show]
To commemorate Carl Linnaeus’s Birthday, an international committee of taxonomists has released its annual roundup of the most noteworthy newly discovered species
Evolution
What a Body Built to Last 100 Years Would Look Like
We would look a lot different if evolution had designed the human body to work well for a century or more
Evolution
A Multitude of Microscopic Wonders Discovered in the World's Oceans [Slide Show]
The four-year study took thousands of samples at hundreds of sites
Evolution
Dog Domestication Much Older than Previously Known
Genetic information from a 35,000-year-old wolf bone found below a frozen cliff in Siberia is shedding new light on humankind's long relationship with dogs
The Sciences
Octopus Skin Senses Light, No Eyes or Brain Needed
The skin of a California octopus species has a molecular light-sensing mechanism that allows it to change color to match its surroundings with no input from the creature's eyes or brain...
