Many older people tend to trim their social circles and focus their social efforts on family and close friends. New research on our close primate relatives may help explain why.
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Articles on Evolutionary biology
Displaying 1 - 20 of 147 articles
From Aristotle to Darwin, inaccurate and biased narratives in science not only reproduce these biases in future generations but also perpetuate the discrimination they are used to justify.
Life can be a struggle for power – not just for people but for nonhuman animals, too. An animal behaviorist explains how this quest can be more Shakespearean drama than boxing match.
The way human brains develop is special – but not quite as special as you’d like to think, if we consider Neanderthals as well.
There is more to evolution than the genes species inherit.
Listen to the first episode of Discovery, a new series available via The Conversation Weekly podcast, telling the stories of fascinating new research discoveries from around the world.
Australia has more than 60 species of native rodents found nowhere else in the world. New research used museum specimens to find out how they got here.
Axolotls are amphibians known for their ability to regrow their organs, including their brains. New research clarifies their regeneration process.
Human embryos are far more likely to die than come to term, an evolutionary trait seen across species. Laws granting personhood at conception ignore built-in embryo loss, with potentially grave consequences.
Here’s what we can learn from our closest extinct relatives.
A vast array of species, including people, use slime for a variety of essential bodily functions. Studying the genetic ancestry of slime surprisingly showcases the role of repetitive DNA in evolution.
A new theory linking metabolism and size shows how evolution, not physics, is the driving force behind many of life’s patterns.
An anthropologist explains some of the many ways animals use their tails, from balancing as they walk to attracting a mate.
The newly discovered species – Qikiqtania – highlights evolution’s twisty, tangled path.
Frilled sharks haven’t changed for about 80 million years! And while they may look a bit like snakes from a distance, they are actually much more similar to other sharks close up.
Few animals have babies without sex, so biologists assumed asexual reproduction must have evolutionary drawbacks. But a self-cloning Australian grasshopper shows things might be more complicated.
A long-term study of wild animal populations shows each generation is on average almost 20% genetically ‘better’ than their parents at surviving and reproducing.
Live birth has evolved independently more than 150 times. The underlying biophysical processes all look quite similar, but new research shows they use completely different genetic tools.
Birds will shriek and dive at each other over food, territory or mates, but only a small number of species sport actual weapons. The reason: Flying matters more for their survival than fighting.
New research sheds light on why predators don’t evolve to become so aggressive that they eat all their prey – and then go extinct themselves.
Top contributors
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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Mark Elgar is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Melbourne
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Sexual health researcher, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor, The University of Queensland
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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Lecturer, Macquarie University
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Senior Lecturer, Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University
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Research fellow, University of Sydney
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PhD Researcher, Nature and Function of Human Nonverbal Vocalisations, University of Sussex
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Postdoctoral Researcher of Evolutionary Biology, University of Pennsylvania
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Senior lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, University of Bristol
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Adjunct Research Associate, Monash University
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Wood Jones Professor of Anthropological and Comparative Anatomy, University of Adelaide
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Professor in Evolutionary Biology, Macquarie University
