The Human Evolution Issue--2014

For the first time in the history of our species, we are never alone and never bored. Have we lost something fundamental about being human?

A radical new take on human evolution adds a large dose of luck to the usual story emphasizing the importance of our forebears' ability to make tools

A 50-year-old discovery revolutionized our view of human evolution 

Our species is still changing. What will become of it?

The capacity to engage in shared tasks such as hunting large game and building cities may be what separated modern humans from our primate cousins

Psychologist/primatologist Michael Tomasello explains

Awash in fresh insights, scientists have had to revise virtually every chapter of the human story

New fossil and archaeological finds, along with insights from genetics, are upending the story of our origins

We asked scientists for their views on the evolution of our species

Many kinds of archaic humans walked the planet at the same time. How did Homo sapiens come to be the last species standing?

Swings between wet and dry landscapes pushed some of our ancestors toward modern traits—and killed off others

A graphical tour of our evolutionary advantages starts with anatomy

More proof of recent and rapid human evolution

For 30,000 years our species has been changing remarkably quickly. And we're not done yet

New ideas about human evolution reveal just how unique Homo sapiens are

The latest molecular analyses and fossil finds suggest that the story of human evolution is far more complex—and more interesting—than anyone imagined

Our ability to cooperate in large societies has deep evolutionary roots in the animal kingdom

Coupling up might have been the best move our ancestors ever made