Wisdom teeth, the palmaris longis tendon, ear wiggling: these qualities were desirable millions of years ago, but due to changes in our diet and environment, are slowly disappearing. However, such features…
In our everyday lives we constantly compare things. We care about whether we are better or worse off than others around us, or than we were in the past. Why we do this has long puzzled scientists, because…
A reconstruction of a ptyctodontid fish, one of the groups of placoderms studied from which well-preserved muscles were found.
John A Long
Fossilised soft tissues, such as skin and muscle, are exceptionally hard to come by. When you think the chances of an animal being fossilised is less than one in a million - and these usually have only…
Our ape relatives respond like human toddlers who are denied a treat or feel frightened.
Reflexiste
Do chimpanzees and bonobos throw tantrums when their decision-making fails to pay off? That’s the question posed in a new PLoS ONE study by Brian Hare of Duke University and Alexandra Rosati of Yale. It…
Left: environment of the early tetrapod (Acanthostega) and tetrapodomorph fish (Eusthenopteron). Right: the axolotl and Australian lungfish.
Catherine Boisvert
Around 395 million years ago, the first tetrapod (four-legged animal) wandered out of its watery home and stepped onto land. This was made possible by the evolution of weight-bearing hips consisting of…
It turns out guppy genital length is genetic – for females as well as males.
Alice Chaos
It’s not always easy to tell if a fish is male or female: they look more or less the same. But there are exceptions, such as guppies and, as with humans, guppy genitalia varies in size across the species…
Reconstruction of Aurornis xui, a new basal avialan theropod from the Middle/Late Jurassic of China.
Masato Hattori
A new feathered fossil, Aurornis – introduced in today’s Nature – has the potential to resolve a debate about bird evolution that’s had evolutionary biologists in a bit of a flap in recent years. The origin…
Over the course of 200 years, music evolved into very distinct styles, each distinguished by melodic interval analysis.
Mira (on the wall)
Think of your favourite piece of music. What aspects of its melody do you really like? Do you prefer a mix of fast and slow notes or an even tempo; do you like listening to low, bass-driven music more…
Ultimately, our ability to convincingly lie to each other may have evolved as a direct result of our cooperative nature. Thus concludes the abstract of a new paper in the journal Proceedings of the Royal…
The latest Star Trek movie, opening tomorrow, raises an eternal question: why are the Klingons (or Cylons or Daleks) always at roughly our technological level? For any sense of drama, interplanetary protagonists…
Semitransparent flesh reconstruction of an embryonic dinosaur inside an egg, with skeleton shown.
D Mazierski
We should forget about ever finding something as small and delicate as a dinosaur embryo, right? A few months ago I would have agreed – but now, well, things have changed. When my colleague, palaeontologist…
Warning: This article may contain traces of jokes about penises – most unintended.
Lynie
How important is penis size? Authors from the Australian National University, Monash and La Trobe provide the most complete answer yet: the size of a flaccid penis can significantly affect how attractive…
You’re no more likely to lose heat from your head than other parts of your body – except your hands and feet.
Taylor Mackenzie
As the weather starts to cool down and winter clothes enter rotation in our wardrobes, some peculiar combinations emerge: shorts and scarves; thongs and jackets; T-shirts and beanies. The last is often…
What is a male? What is a female? If you were to conduct a survey, most people would probably have little difficulty expressing some fundamental differences. After all, we learn to tell boys apart from…
It seems Architeuthis dux is the only species of giant squid.
NHK/NEP/Discovery Channel
As many as 21 species of giant squid live and die under the surface of our oceans. At least, that’s what we thought. A paper published today by my colleagues and I in Proceedings of the Royal Society B…