Evolution

Scientists figured out the origin of warm-bloodedness in mammals by analyzing the ears of 341 living and extinct species.

A perplexing mystery fish may have finally been placed on the evolutionary tree of life as an ancestor of all four-limbed animals, also known as tetrapods.

Squid, octopus, and other cephalopods are genetic rulebreakers who have scrambled their genomes, perhaps allowing them to evolve their impressive smarts.

A pair of Charles Darwin's notebooks, which were stolen in late 2000, have been anonymously returned to the library that once held them.

Symmetry is so common in biology because life favors simple structures over complex ones.

Researchers compared the skulls of domesticated house cats to the skulls of their closest wild ancestor, and found that cat brains are definitely shrinking.

Natural selection has been acting on more than 700 human genes over the last 3,000 years, perhaps contributing to the persistence of disorders like inflammatory bowel disease.

Fossils from northwestern Canada may represent ancient sponges dating to 890 million years ago, making them the oldest known examples of animal life.

Analysis of a well-preserved fossil from South Africa provided a "missing puzzle piece" for the evolution of dinosaur respiration.

A new study on human cultural evolution argues that humans evolve much faster as cultures than as individual organisms, molding our genes in the process.

Creeping voles lost their Y chromosome, but they don't seem to be missing the sex chromosome.

The ancestors of vampire squid started trawling deep, oxygen-poor waters around 30 million years ago, a long-lost fossil rediscovery reveals.

Earth could have hosted islands as long as 4 billion years ago, leaving open the possibility that the first life could have evolved on land rather than near hydrothermal vents.

Thick facial hair could cushion the face and jaw, lending protection against punches, kicks and other combat blows.

Scientists aim to stay the spread of antibiotic resistance by messing with how bacteria evolve.

Gigantopithecus, an enormous extinct ape that lived in Asia millions of years ago, was a close relative of the modern orangutan.

A look at 4.5 billion years of Earth's history tells us that intelligence, including extraterrestrial intelligence, is unlikely to evolve.

Humans did not evolve from apes, gorillas or chimps. We share a common ancestor and have followed different evolutionary paths.