Evolution

The 9,000-year-old settlement of Çatalhöyük in Turkey shows how humans began putting down roots

When the sun disappeared, tiny coccoliths turned to hunting

A Caribbean island’s giant rocks were thought to be deposited by enormous waves

Researchers extracted DNA from fossils that are more than a million years old, illuminating the origins of the woolly mammoth and the Columbian mammoth

Persistent rumination may be an attribute that lets us think our way out of despair—a process enhanced through talk therapy

Experiments on clusters of cultured cells hint that a gene variant found only in Homo sapiens profoundly changed brain development in our species, compared with our extinct relatives

Fossils are being found worldwide, and there are plenty more to come

Some dog population genetics show similarities to ours, such as in the ability to digest grains. But other lineages differ.  

The emergence of this crucial kind of relationship relied on the ability to recognize the unique benefits others have to offer

Depictions of pigs found in Indonesia date back at least 45,500 years

The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution

Unlike humans, wolves can subsist on protein alone for months—so scientists say we may have lobbed leaner leftovers their way. Christopher Intagliata reports.