Evolutionary Biology

The biologist Joan Strassmann discusses the evolution of cooperation, how amoebas can teach us about competition, and why the definition of “organism” needs an overhaul

A newly discovered class of microbe could help to resolve one of the biggest and most controversial mysteries in evolution—how simple microbes transformed into the complex cells that produced animals, plants and fungi

Fluid dynamics sheds light the Tribrachidium's approach to mealtime 550 million years ago

Teeth from these diminutive individuals suggest they belonged to a unique species rather than a modern human with a growth disorder, as previously suspected

DNA from Denisovans suggests they lived in Siberia for millennia and were more genetically diverse than Neandertals, but less diverse than modern humans

Among howler monkey species, loud calls come at the expense of testicle size and sperm production—or to put it another way, monkeys with the largest testes don't make as much noise

A new study provides substantial support for earlier claims of 520-million-year-old arthropod brain systems, raising interesting questions about the nature of brains, life and intelligence in the cosmos

Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould was influenced by Marx and Kuhn as well as by Darwin.

Some prominent South Africans associate Homo naledi with stereotypes of blacks promulgated during decades of whites-only rule

Known group of 250 animals found to be genetically distinct from their island neighbors

Researchers built a physical model of the tail of the late Jurassic dinosaur Apatosaurus and found that its tail tip could have moved at supersonic speed to produce a whip-crack sound

The animals have 20 copies of a key tumor-fighting gene; humans have just one