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Articles on Evolution

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Many animals form life-long partnerships, but they’re not always about sex. Brett Sayer/Flickr

Not every partnership is about sex

Many animals, including humans, form long-term partnerships, but some are same-sex, suggesting they’re not all about raising offspring but some other form of cooperation.
3D virtual reconstruction of two-million-year-old ear. Rolf Quam

Testing ancient human hearing via fossilized ear bones

Beyond the cool factor of figuring out hominin hearing capacities two million years ago, these findings could help answer the tantalizing question of when did human vocalized language first emerge.
Tick tock, tick tock… You can’t hide from the molecular clock. www.shutterstock.com

Explainer: what is the molecular clock?

The molecular clock is helping us deepen our knowledge of evolution and completing the tree of life. But how does it actually work?
Myths and theories abound about how and why the zebra got its stripes. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

The riddle behind zebra stripes

There are a number of reasons why zebra’s stripes are useful to a zebra. The key question is: could some of them benefit society?
The cycles of nutrients into the oceans following the building of mountains may have been a prime driver of evolutionary change. John Long, Flinders University

Plate tectonics may have driven the evolution of life on Earth

The rise and fall of the essential elements for life could have influenced the way life evolved over many millions of years.
Human eyes are unique among primates for their range of iris colours and unpigmented sclera. Wikimedia Commons

Making sense of our evolution

The science about our special senses - vision, smell, hearing and taste - offers fascinating and unique perspectives on our evolution. Yet it remains patchy; we know surprisingly little for example about…
Senegalese boys learn at a koranic school. Even in secular schools, religion dominates class time. Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

Senegal’s teachers struggle with the clash between science and faith

In Senegal, schoolteachers who are personally religious must work in a secular space that marginalises religious discourse and knowledge. They have several ways of subverting the system.
Bats have adapted new hunting techniques in their pursuit of moths who in turn have developed defensive strategies. Sarun T/Shutterstock

Explainer: the evolutionary arms race between bats and moths

Bats have developed special attack mechanisms for hunting moths, and moths have responded by developing defence mechanisms to avoid being eaten.

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