Bridget Alex

Scholars have long argued that Neanderthal weapons were too hefty to hurl and, therefore, had to be thrust directly into ...

It’s something of a well-known secret among anthropologists: Based on measurements of skulls, the average brain volume of Homo sapiens ...

Let’s call it the “running made us human” hypothesis: According to some scientists, distance running was key to our ancestors’ ...

Over the years, researchers have proposed a number of explanations for human breasts. Some claimed evolution favored “pendulous” breasts — as scientists ...

Mounting evidence suggests Neanderthals also had a habit of inbreeding, or conceiving with close relatives. Several studies have now reported ...

[B]ones between 5,000 and 15,000 years old — surrounding the start of the Holocene, our current geologic epoch — can ...

Human skin color reflects an evolutionary balancing act tens of thousands of years in the making. There’s a convincing explanation ...

Did Neanderthals have language? Before trying to answer that, I should admit my bias: I’m team Neanderthal. As an anthropologist ...

[H]ow does evolution explain religion? Leading scholars propose a two-phase hypothesis (here, here): First, our ancestors evolved certain mental abilities, useful ...

Analyzing DNA from present-day and ancient genomes provides a complementary approach for dating evolutionary events. By comparing DNA sequences, geneticists ...