Evolutionary Biology

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

By studying the interactions of babies and their mothers, researchers determined that babies smile in hopes others will smile at them. Erika Beras reports

Homo naledi’s hands and feet could reveal answers about a key shift in human evolution—the move from a life of climbing trees to one spent walking on the ground

Hiding out in what is now New Mexico, beaver-like animal used specialized dentition to live on plants

The biologist Nancy Moran has spent a career investigating the surprising nature of symbiosis, a phenomenon in which two species can appear to merge into one

Entomologists, you know how to name your critters

Early human species may have had sharper hearing in certain frequencies than we enjoy, to facilitate short-range communication in an open environment. Cynthia Graber reports

Living on a small planet in a big universe exposes us to all manner of existential problems, but what are the worst, and what are the weirdest?

The identity of Earth's first flower has long vexed botanists. A new interpretation of an old fossil adds to the evidence that they may have come from the water.