Evolution

Brain networks for memory and planning may have set us apart from Neandertals—and chimps

DNA has upended neat and tidy accounts of the peopling of the American continents

Proliferating cichlids may specialize using regulatory DNA

It lets us excavate ancient fossils while preserving information about the sediments that hold them—crucial to understanding their age, among other things

The two cities’ rock doves are genetically distinct, research shows.

Fossilized pollen and leaves reveal that the meteorite that caused the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs also reshaped South America’s plant communities to yield the planet’s largest rain forest

A paleontologist and an illustrator team up to make mythical creatures follow biomechanical rules

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Video produced in partnership with The Great Courses. All Great Courses video content is available only to subscribers with the password sent via email.

New research tries to tease out whether our closest animal relatives can be selfless

Scientists studied three varieties of house mice and found that those who had lived alongside humans the longest were also the craftiest at solving food puzzles. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Could they speak, too? Did they proposition modern humans in an interspecies creole language?