Ancestry & Evolution
The desire to understand our origins is primal. By examining our DNA over successive generations through the evolutionary process of inherited characteristics of human and animal populations–as well as from those species from which humans share a common ancestry–we can decipher our individual and collective past and develop medical innovations for the future.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Revising human history: Asian paleoanthropology reveals human, Neanderthal relationships
[T]he first analyses of Neanderthal DNA seemed to indicate that Neanderthals and modern humans did not interbreed. But this popular ...
‘Star cluster’ genetic analysis illuminates history’s social inequalities
In humans, the profound biological differences that exist between the sexes mean that a single male is physically capable of ...
Where do we come from? Question grows ever more complicated
It was recently discovered that modern humans are part of the African great apes family, but how did this classification ...
Mood disorders more common in children of first-cousin parents, study finds
Having parents who are first cousins doubles the risk of inheriting a single-gene condition, from 2.5 percent to about 5 ...
Earth’s first life forms were incredibly resilient to dramatic environmental changes
Life on Earth could have originated in cold conditions near the surface, before spreading to warmer environments, according to research ...
Life on Earth: How aliens might go about discovering us
[L]ight-years from our solar system, other intelligent beings on a similar planetary oasis might be gazing in our direction and ...
Viewpoint: Population declines are a greater crisis than extinctions
Forget extinctions. Population decline is a much greater crisis. ... We watch for extinctions like those with the thought that, ...
Why humans started eating meat—and is it critical for our diet?
Evidence suggests our hominin ancestors turned to meat when climate change reduced resource-rich vegetation. The signatures of these changes may ...
If Neanderthals mated with early modern humans, why does their genome show no evidence of human DNA?
Gene flow between Neanderthals and early modern humans may have been a one-way street, researchers have found. While the presence ...
Harvard geneticist David Reich NY Times’ op-ed ignites debate over whether ‘races’ exist
On Monday morning, I woke up to a tweet from Sam Harris, the bestselling author and popular podcast host, referencing ...
Which came first, intensive agriculture or complex society?
A fundamental question about the precise role of agriculture in early human history remains unanswered. Did the advent of intensive ...
What spurred the Cambrian explosion? Evolving animals may have led to more oxygen, not other way around
Scientists have long sought to determine what caused the Cambrian explosion, and to explain why animal life didn’t take this ...
Viewpoint: ‘Race’ may be a social construct, but denying ancestral-based group genetic differences is ‘indefensible’
With the help of [advances in DNA sequencing], we are learning that while race may be a social construct, differences ...
Viewpoint: We have much to gain from questioning the theory that humans evolved in Africa
The African origin theory reigns supreme. Every attempt to disprove the theory offers a chance to consider the evidence all ...
Kenyan cave spears suggest human trade may have developed 100,000 years earlier than thought
Humans may have developed advanced social behaviours and trade 100,000 years earlier than previously thought. This is according to a series of ...
Eyeing mutations and evolution at the single cell level
Genetic mutations are the driving force of evolution, and now scientists have managed to study the effect of mutations in ...
Babies begin making logical reasoning decisions by the age of one
In intriguing research, a team of scientists may have discovered the earliest age at which a person can reason logically: 12 months ...
Conservation steward challenge: Which endangered species should we intervene to save?
[O]ur role as stewards of the earth is becoming more and more like that of doctors in a global intensive-care ...
‘Ata’ was no alien: DNA analysis solves mystery of tiny mummified Chilean skeleton
In the 14 years since it was found in an abandoned mining town in Chile's Atacama Desert, the bizarre 6-inch ...
Facing extreme danger, are you ‘wired’ to fight or take flight?
"Fight or flight" reactions are much more complicated than we were taught in school. That fact has implications for reacting ...
Colombian town with world’s largest Fragile X cluster likely linked to 18th century founder
A semirural Colombian town called Ricaurte, about 150 miles southwest of Bogotá, may be home to the largest recorded genetic ...
Searching for life in 3-billion-year-old fossils: Will we know it when we see it?
Geologists examining fossils in rocks help us to gain purchase on the conundrum of what constitutes life by identifying its ...
Ancient DNA from mysterious culture highlights North Africa’s role as ‘important crossroads’
About 15,000 years ago, in the oldest known cemetery in the world, people buried their dead in sitting positions with ...
Thousand-year mind preservation with a twist: Startup Nectome’s procedure is ‘100 percent fatal’
The startup accelerator Y Combinator is known for supporting audacious companies in its popular three-month boot camp. There’s never been ...
Air pollution influences gene expression and disease more than our ancestry
Exposure to air pollution doesn’t just lead to illnesses like asthma and lung ailments, it can also alter the way ...
Humans mated with the mysterious Denisovans more than once, as well as with Neanderthals
We rarely portray Neanderthals, our close relatives, as telegenic...But to mock Neanderthals is to mock ourselves: Homo sapiens had lots of sex with Homo neanderthalensis. Neanderthal genes supply ...
Tracing human evolution through the foods we eat
You aren’t what you eat, exactly. But over many generations, what we eat does shape our evolutionary path. “Diet,” says ...
Here’s what potential Mars colonists really need from Earth: A large gene pool
Establishment of a Mars colony will depend on genetic diversity, meaning we must send tens of thousands of colonists ...
