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.
Chimps’ feeding behavior reveals evolutionary history of intellectual development
Food reveals a lot about species' evolutionary past. Organisms are constantly adapting in response to what kind and how much ...
‘Hobbit species’ continues to provoke questions about course of human evolution
In 2003, researchers excavating a limestone cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores made an extraordinary discovery: the 18,000-year-old ...
Can evolution can be explained by genes alone?
Charles Darwin conceived of evolution by natural selection without knowing that genes exist. Now mainstream evolutionary theory has come to ...
Before sperm meets egg
In high school biology, we all learned that development of a new organism is a complex endeavor ...
Gluten-free fad food choice, rarely medically dictated
Millions of people have lately adopted a gluten-free diet by self-diagnosing with gluten sensitivities in spite of the fact there ...
Genetic secret that attracts females (fruit flies to humans?)
A new study has found that female fruit flies don't simply choose a mate based on things like wing colors. They look ...
Genomes show early contact between Easter Island and the Americas
The Dutch explorer Jakob Roggeveen may not have arrived on Easter Island until 1722 but new genomic evidence finds that the Rapanui people living there ...
Genetic variant helped in the Arctic, but now makes us fat
Researchers have discovered a genetic variant that arose thousands of years ago in people living in the Arctic. It helped them then, ...
Evolution is sometimes messy or even outright ridiculous
In the real world, evolution can’t explain itself. It acts without intention, and unless we find enough revealing fossils, we ...
Lactose tolerance evolved much later than previously believed
As early humans shifted from hunting and gathering to agriculture, their genomes shifted, too. But according to new research, the ...
Squids show that sometimes, evolution is predictable
A longstanding question among scientists is whether evolution is predictable. A team of researchers from UC Santa Barbara may have ...
US Ebola hysteria and money pit highlight lack of resources to confront diseases that kill far more people
The Ebola hysteria underscores how frenzy rather than need drives government responses and resources. Listeria is a disease that's not ...
Single gene explains lower breast cancer rates in Latina women
An international research collaboration led by UC San Francisco researchers has identified a genetic variant common in Latina women that ...
History of penetrative sex reveals unexpected reversal in evolution
The history of sex may have to be rewritten thanks to a group of unsightly, long-extinct fish called placoderms. A ...
Jack the Ripper’s identity remains a mystery after error in DNA analysis revealed
It was supposed to have been the definitive piece of scientific evidence that finally exposed the true identify of Jack ...
Women carry fetal DNA long after children’s birth
Women and their offspring exchange small amounts of DNA during pregnancy. Those fetal DNA signatures can last a lifetime in ...
How evolution gave rise to zombie ladybugs and mind-controlling wasps
A predator protected from other predators, the ladybug would seem to have the perfect insect life—were it not for wasps ...
In a battle of brains, chimpanzees match human toddlers
Many skills that we consider complex are in fact the result of relatively simple - and often universal - cognitive ...
Closer examination of risk factors for Latinos underscores cultural diversity
Investigations into the genetics of disease in Latino populations are yielding interesting patterns of risk and protection from disease. The ...
Natural Resources Defense Council sues EPA to block rollout of Dow Enlist Duo GMO system
The NRDC filed what is expected to be the first of numerous suits challenging the EPA's approval of Enlist Duo, ...
Surprises abound in our inherited ‘female’ mitochondrial DNA
Since the unexpected discovery that mitochondria contain their own distinct DNA molecules, studies of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have yielded ...
Beyond universal donors, some people are programed with no blood type at all
People genetically coded with the RH-null blood type have a blood type more rare than extremely rare disease. Their numbers ...
Researchers explore mysterious origins of microbes
We love origin stories. When we see successful groups of animals and plants, we wonder where they came from, and ...
Sperm mislabeling causes consternation for all-white family with mixed race child
Sperm is a product, but not a well-regulated one. After receiving donor sperm from an African American donor, a Caucasian ...
Why random walks in evolution lead to the same place–and why biotechnology opponents should take note
A recent study found that evolution is not as random and chaotic as critics of biology like to contend. In ...
Woman’s quest to uncover family history using DNA tests upturns her life
In 2008 the story’s protagonist, 56-year-old Cheryl Whittle from rural Virginia, heard about DNA testing on Oprah. Just for kicks she ...
Evolutionary incubators turn invasive species into ecological nightmares
Invasive species are both a fact of life and a scientific puzzle. Humans transport animals and plants thousands of miles from ...
