Did we evolve the capacity to produce sublime music simply to get more sex? Or are we driven by higher ideals related to living together in harmony? Maybe it’s a bit of both.
Comparing genomes of more than 200,000 people, researchers identified genetic variants that are less common in older people, suggesting natural selection continues to weed out disadvantageous traits.
We don’t know much about the origins of most human achievements – scientific and otherwise. Like evolution, does progress occur as random insights are selected for or against?
While there is currently interest interest in artificial intelligence, it offers limited achievements, such as the autonomous car. Tomorrow, machines will learn alone and forge solutions.
In science, the word ‘theory’ has a very specific meaning that’s easy for nonscientists to misunderstand or misconstrue. Here’s what a theory must withstand to be accepted by the scientific community.
Scientists of all kinds turn to computer models to investigate questions they can’t get at any other way. Here’s how models work and why we can trust them.
Is a woman’s longing for a child evolution at work, or social conditioning? And what about those who don’t want kids? Are they defying nature? Probably not, as almost everyone wants sex.
Evolution also does not claim humans evolved from primates. Neither does it say non-human primates, including monkeys, baboons, chimpanzees and gorillas, will evolve into humans with time.
Had the young naturalist not made a great discovery about rock formations in the first half of his career, On the Origin of the Species might never have been written.
Darwin’s finches are known to be a paragon of evolution by natural selection, but a recent genetic discovery relating to their beaks highlights the evolutionary connectedness of all life.
Invasive species colonize and spread widely in places where they are not normally found. Invasives often affect native species by eating them, out-competing them and introducing unfamiliar parasites and…
Find yourself thinking that the spider living in your garden is the biggest you’ve ever seen? You could be right. New research shows some spiders are getting larger and even doing better in cities than…