A series of new studies sheds light on the population crash and extinction of the giant birds, lemurs and more that roamed the island until around A.D. 700-1000.
Using the family relationships between single-celled protists alive today, researchers hypothesized what their evolutionary ancestors looked like – and then looked in the fossil record for matches.
Male collared flycatcher, singing for multiple females.
Kennerth Kullman/Shutterstock.com
Biologists investigated whether birds that search for multiple mates would evolve ever more elaborate songs to attract them. What they found might have surprised Darwin.
A modern arthropod (the centipede Cormocephalus) crawls over its Cambrian ‘flatmate’ (the trilobite Estaingia).
Michael Lee / South Australian Museum and Flinders University
Modern animals took over our planet much more quickly than previously thought. This has both welcome and disturbing implications for the future of life on our rapidly changing planet
More than 620 million years of evolution separate crows from humans, but the birds show that they can plan three steps ahead.
Romana Gruber
Alex Taylor, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
New Caledonian crows are famous for using tools to reach a reward. Now scientists have confirmed they can plan several steps ahead, like a chess player contemplating a series of moves.
The emperor penguin can grow up to 45 kilograms, making it the largest living penguin species.
Veronika Meduna
Genetic information extracted from fossil bones of two extinct penguin species shows the geological emergence of islands plays a role in penguin evolution.
A young shore crab displaying varied colouring.
Aleksey Stemmer/Shutterstock
Kim Cooper, University of California, San Diego et Hannah Grunwald, University of California, San Diego
When geneticists create mice with special traits, there is no way to be sure that they will be inherited by the offspring. But a new genetic tool called a gene drive may fix the problem.
Homo erectus had many features in common with Homo sapiens – but we still don’t have a genetic profile for this species.
from www.shutterstock.com
No area of archaeology has seen such vibrant change in recent times than how we understand our family tree. Could 2019 be the year we learn more about our mysterious ancestor Homo erectus?
Exercise and activity are important parts of living the lives humans are meant to live from an evolutionary standpoint.
Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com
As the new year gets underway, millions will make resolutions. The author explains why resolving to live in accordance with the way humans have evolved could go a long way to increasing happiness.
Lots of positive pregnancy tests this time of year.
Kristina Kokhanova/Shutterstock.com
Did you ever consider that human beings might have a breeding season? Birth seasonality exists – and has interesting implications for childhood disease outbreaks.
From the largest whales to the smallest plankton and microscopic life, we’re all tightly connected to planet Earth.
Vivek Kumar/unsplash
Although often separated as two unique subjects in science, geology and biology have been intricately intertwined since life on Earth first evolved billions of years ago.
There is an urgent need to reconsider the importance of diversity. It is not a simple wealth. It is both a property of the living and an essential condition for its survival.
Archaeological excavation at Ain Boucherit, Algeria.
Mathieu Duval