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.
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Sex before you’re born: Early organism, ancient human cousin, had kinky mating rituals
Until now, little was known about the biology of Fractofusus, which lived in the ocean 565 million years ago. But new research ...
Small contributions from Neanderthals, Denosovans had huge influence on modern human genome
Our ancestors were not a picky bunch. Overwhelming genetic evidence shows that Homo sapiens had sex with Neanderthals, Denisovans and other archaic ...
Will humanoid robots render humans obsolete?
Maybe you believe that humans uniquely will always have to perform the highest-stakes, most delicate and demanding tasks in our ...
Who has more similar genome: Men and women or males and male chimps?
Gender differences and sexual preferences are frequently a point of conversation. What produces the differences between men and women? Are ...
Digital reconstruction of mouse brain opens path to human experimentation
Six years might seem like a long time to spend piecing together the structure of a scrap of tissue vastly ...
Evolution research answers why it ‘takes a village’ to raise human children
It's been said often enough to become cliché—it takes a village to raise a child. But how many of us ...
Cancer cells are ‘cheaters’ in Darwin’s vision of evolution
Maybe it was in “some warm little pond,” Charles Darwin speculated in 1871, that life on Earth began. A few simple chemicals ...
DNA exonerates humans for giant sloths’ extinction, climate change to blame
New forensic DNA evidence is painting a detailed picture of the death of the world’s megafauna – and it suggests ...
Some antibiotic-resistant bacteria can become even more virulent
We used to think that antibiotic resistance came at a cost for bacteria, making them weaker. It turns out that ...
Can defenders of ‘traditional’ marriage find support from evolutionary science?
Writing in First Things, Ryan T. Anderson proposed a course of action for religious conservatives to defend traditional marriage in ...
Is there intelligent life in space? Stephen Hawking thinks so, and has launched massive search
More than a half-century after the first modern search for communicating extraterrestrial life, humanity’s quest to find intelligent beings in ...
Dating startup uses controversial / questionable science to help you find your soul mate
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Nazuki Andoh, 37, and Jesse Gronwall, 30, received a small kit in the mail. It contained ...
Computer program hijacks 23andMe data, raises genetic discrimination concerns
23andMe bills itself as a company that "democratizes personal genetics" for the world. And that description's not necessarily all that ...
US genetic health studies fail to accurately represent country’s ethnic makeup
The clock is ticking for experts charged with designing a U.S. government programme to collect genetic, physiological and other health ...
What did the first humans to leave Africa look like?
The most comprehensive dataset ever assembled on our early human ancestors provides evidence that the first humans emerged in South ...
A rabbi and an alien walk into a bar: What happens when religious leaders meet extraterrestrials?
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) presents a challenge for the major religions, who might find themselves threatened if alien ...
Amazonians distant cousins of Australasians through ancient genetic link
Some people in the Brazilian Amazon are very distant relations of indigenous Australians, New Guineans and other Australasians, two groups ...
Dogs love TV? Our canine partners have evolved human-like traits
It's likely no surprise to dog owners, but growing research suggests that man's best friend often acts more human than ...
“The Vital Question” book explores evolutionary origins of life
How did rocks, air and water coalesce into the first living creatures on the primordial Earth? Why did complex life like ...
20th century eugenists guided women on selecting perfect mate
For American women in the early twentieth century, marriage was a dangerous affair. Upon her marriage, a woman’s civic and ...
Synthetic components added to DNA expand genetic alphabet
DNA stores our genetic code in an elegant double helix. But some argue that this elegance is overrated. “DNA as a ...
Ancestry following 23andMe into consumer genetics business
With the launch of its AncestryHealth website, Ancestry continues to play Microsoft to 23andMe’s Apple. It may not be as ...
Apes, like humans, show bias towards positive spin
Are you likelier to buy an expensive diet pill when you hear it has helped 40 percent of people or ...
Kissing around the world: How do different cultures show intimacy?
Not all people express love and adoration through their lips. In fact, new research published in American Anthropologist reports that only 46 percent of cultures kiss ...
Sex chromosomes get messy when they swap DNA
Variety is the spice of life—especially when it comes to genetics. Our species needs DNA to intermingle to create genetic ...
Can gene editing preserve line between medicine and eugenics?
CRISPR is the latest chapter in a long, darkly comic history of human genetic improvement. Like whole-gene engineering in the ...
5 Myths about GMOs
In the neverending debate about genetically modified foods, which myths do you believe? ...
