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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‘We humans might never have evolved’: Chance is the central narrative of human evolution
Prince Hamlet spent a lot of time pondering the nature of chance and probability in William Shakespeare’s tragedy. In the ...
‘Hunting brains’: How and why early human brains more than doubled in size
In recent years, more and more evidence has been accumulated to the effect that humans were a major factor in ...
‘Quest for deliciousness’: How hunger for tasty food drove human evolution
Human evolution and exploration of the world were shaped by a hunger for tasty food – “a quest for deliciousness” ...
Cloned ferret Elizabeth Ann and the future of conservation: The promises and perils of biotechnology
From Borneo to Britain, it’s the scientific breakthrough that captured the world’s attention. No, not the Perseverance rover landing on ...
Evolution of language: Did Neanderthals have the ability to speak?
The evolution of language, and the linguistic capacities in Neanderthals in particular, is a long-standing question in human evolution. "For ...
Our early human ancestors may have climbed trees and swung along branches like chimpanzees
When Texas A&M University’s Cody Prang was taking his first biological anthropology course as an undergraduate at the University of ...
Video: Humans have lost many genes over the course of our evolution. Here’s how they helped define us
Our DNA holds thousands of dead genes and we’ve only just begun to unravel their stories. But one thing is ...
‘Friendship, family and culture’: Surprising evolution-based attributes that dolphins share with humans
Scientists like Dr Blake Morton, a Lecturer of Psychology from the University of Hull, suggest that [personality similarities across species] ...
Cancer dates back millions of years. Now we are cracking its evolutionary code
Cancer cells are on a continual evolutionary journey of mutation and proliferation, creating a genetically diverse population with a range ...
Podcast: Dogology—The science of our four-legged friends
Geneticist Kat Arney brings you some scientific tails as we explore the genetics of dog breeds and behaviour ...
Video: Here’s why COVID mutant variants are spreading so fast
As highly transmissible coronavirus variants sweep across the world, scientists are racing to understand why these new versions of the ...
Part 2: Why is Africa the global COVID-19 ‘cold spot’? — The historical challenge of disentangling genes and environment
Does greater prior exposure to pathogens, including other recent coronaviruses, help explain why Africa is a COVID-19 cold spot, despite ...
Why did humans survive while our Denisovan and Neanderthal cousins died out? Just one gene could have made all the difference
Stem cells, the self-renewing precursors of other cell types, can be used to build brain organoids [or] "mini brains" in ...
Do you thrive in cold weather? 20% of people have a genetic mutation that keeps skeletal muscles warmer
Skeletal muscle comprises fast-twitch (white) fibers that fatigue quickly and slow-twitch (red) fibers that are more resistant to fatigue. The ...
A complicated legacy: Reassessing Darwin‘s views on race and gender 150 years after the ‘The Descent of Man’
Darwin was a liberal, and an abolitionist, perhaps influenced by his taxidermy tutor in Edinburgh, a Guyanese man called John ...
Lagging global vaccine rollout could open the door to more mutant strains, complicating recovery
The virus continues to spread rapidly in many parts of the world, even as segments of the population have gained ...
‘Dark angels of evolution, terrific and terrible’: How viruses have shaped evolution, for better or for worse
[Many] viruses bring adaptive benefits, not harms, to life on Earth, including ours. We couldn’t continue without them. We wouldn’t ...
Hundreds of novel coronaviruses likely lurking in animal species around the world
[New research] identifies hundreds of animal species that may become infected with known coronaviruses, although many of these infections haven't ...
‘GUYnecology’ and ‘Phallacy’: Two new books take on the ups and downs of male appendages
It can stretch up to nine times your body length (if you’re a barnacle); be a detachable tentacle covered in ...
Video: The saga of how humans developed the ability to talk
The evolution of our ability to speak is its own epic saga and it’s worth pausing to appreciate that. It’s ...
Human evolutionary timeline: Key moments in the emergence of our species
The long evolutionary journey that created modern humans began with a single step—or more accurately—with the ability to walk on ...
Methusalah dogs are pushing the boundaries of cognitive science
Living with people means dogs experience near-identical social and environmental influences on a daily basis. They show off a host ...
Who are you calling bird-brained? Crows and other corvids display self-awareness and consciousness
The corvid family of birds, which includes crows, ravens, jays and magpies, had been observed previously to use tools, as ...
Life on Earth originated on Mars? Here’s the intriguing case
Though the idea that life started on Mars before migrating on Earth sounds like some far-fetched sci-fi premise, many renowned ...
Infographic: How dangerous COVID mutant strains develop
Sometime in 2019, probably in China, SARS CoV-2 figured out a way to interact with a specific "spike" on the ...
Viewpoint: Toxic masculinity vs. toxic femininity — An evolutionary view
History bears testimony to the danger of demonising groups of people based on their immutable characteristics. Not only did this ...
How years of ‘prolonged immaturity’ as babies provide humans with an evolutionary advantage
[H]uman babies, as well as the young of many other species of mammals and birds, require months or years of ...
