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.
What jellyfish can show us about complex evolution through simple genomes
You might expect that as bodies became more complex, genomes did as well. But a recent study appearing in Nature Ecology & Evolution ...
I’m a geneticist. A DNA test uncovered a half-sister and sparked painful questions
My own discovery is so overwhelming that I can’t talk about it much, even though my new half-sister has possibly ...
10,000-year-old remains suggest dogs reached North America earlier than previously thought
The skeletal remains of three ancient dogs found buried in Illinois now represent the earliest evidence for the presence of ...
Urbanization is a ‘massive unplanned experiment’: How cities affect evolution
[C]ities are having profound effects on their animal and plant residents. Globally, about 0.5 percent of Earth’s land area is ...
Why did dinosaurs thrive for so long, while other ancient species faced extinction?
Everybody knows about the K/Pg Mass Extinction. As soon as we learn about dinosaurs, and demand to know why we ...
9 GLP 2018 human genetics highlights: Sen Warren’s Native American ancestry; transgender genetics; Freddie Mercury’s teeth and his voice
The top GLP stories in a very busy year for human genetics ...
The rise and fall of genetic determinism
We’ve all seen the stark headlines: “Being Rich and Successful Is in Your DNA” (Guardian, July 12); “A New Genetic ...
‘Ancient genes’ could point to our last universal common ancestor
Around 4 billion years ago there lived a microbe called LUCA: the Last Universal Common Ancestor. ... If we trace ...
Are science and religion destined to be at ‘war’?
Religion and science are incorrectly pictured as warring belief systems ...
Why don’t humans have fur? We have theories, but no answers
Evolutionary theorists have put forth numerous hypotheses for why humans became the naked mole rats of the primate world. Did we adapt ...
Computer scientists turn to evolutionary biology for inspiration
Creationists love to insist that evolution had to assemble upward of 300 amino acids in the right order to create just ...
DNA analysis shows ‘everyone had been wrong’ about mysterious Siberian unicorn
It didn't look much like the dainty unicorns of myth and legend, but the extinct unicorn of Siberia is even ...
Is evolution denial an attempt to ‘make humans special’?
Evolutionary biology has always been controversial. Not controversial among biologists, but controversial among the general public. This is largely because ...
‘Interesting puzzle’ created by hand tools found near long-vanished Arabian rivers
Nearly 200,000 years ago, at the confluence of two long-vanished river systems in the heart of Arabia, people climbed a ...
Startling discovery: Ancient mixed-race girl had Neanderthal and Denisovan parents
[T]ens of thousands of years ago, modern humans encountered Denisovans – and had sex with them. It is a startling ...
What martyred Thomas Becket and his holy lice can teach us about evolution
It’s a tale of murder, sex, and vermin. And gorillas. Reader discretion advised ...
Human, Neanderthal mating was more than just a ‘one night stand’, study suggests
Once upon a time, prehistoric humans and our ancient Neanderthal cousins met and procreated. Except, that ‘once upon a time’ ...
Why humans may not be to blame for ancient African mammal extinction
New research has disputed a longstanding view that early humans helped wipe out many of the large mammals that once ...
Why teaching evolution is still difficult in many public schools
[November 12] marked the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Epperson vs. Arkansas, which struck down the state’s ...
Why Darwin’s ‘abominable mystery’ may not be all that mysterious
For 140 years, scientists have been trying to explain what Charles Darwin described as “an abominable mystery”. Darwin was bothered by evidence ...
This tiny creature gives us a ‘completely new branch on the tree of life’
Canadian scientists have identified microscopic creatures that are so unlike anything seen before, they had to create an entirely new ...
Neanderthals and humans lived equally ‘risky, stressful lives’
Life as a Neanderthal was no picnic, but a new analysis says it was no more dangerous than what our ...
Genes and giraffes: What do those spots tell us?
Giraffes' spotty exterior provides more than camouflage ...
How DNA tests solved the mystery of this strange, now-extinct monkey
For nearly 100 years, scientists haven’t been able to agree on the evolutionary origins of a strange, now-extinct monkey that ...
Three bird species in one? Inside a warbler’s puzzling DNA
A Pennsylvania birder spotted the bird of a lifetime in his backyard this past spring—it was a hybrid of three ...
Evolved adaptation: Challenges to Darwin’s belief that mutations are random and neutral
When Charles Darwin articulated his theory of evolution by natural selection in On the Origin of Species in 1859, he ...
How plants have shaped the course of human history
Quinine (Scientific name: Cinchona) is a plant that has influenced the course of human history. Used for centuries by the indigenous ...
