Human brains exhibit more plasticity, the tendency to be modeled by the environment, than chimpanzee brains, which may account for part of human evolution, according to a study which may provide…

Living hominoids are a group of primates that includes the small-bodied apes (the lesser apes, or gibbons and siamangs, which constitute the family Hylobatidae) and the larger-bodied great apes (…

A team of paleontologists find in a new fossil study that the extraordinary regenerative capacities of modern salamanders are likely an ancient feature of four-legged vertebrates that was…

An evolutionary puzzle in the genome of several different snake species is why their genetic code has DNA that, in most animals, controls the development and growth of limbs. Since snakes have long…

In a new study, Nikola-Michael Prpic et al. have identified the driving force behind the evolution of a leg novelty first found in spiders: knees.   With eight hairy legs and seven joints on…

This spring, the world learned of a newly discovered missing link between microbes and humans called Lokiarchaeota. The actual story is that the microbe Lokiarchaeota, discovered on the deep sea…

Researchers ave shown that well-developed eyes come at a surprising cost to other organ systems.  Researchers have long associated the presence of a well-developed brain with major energy…

Working in a cave complex deep beneath South Africa's Malmani dolomites, an international team of scientists has brought to light an unprecedented trove of hominin fossils -- more than 1,500 well-…

An international team of researchers has sequenced the first complete genome of an Iberian farmer, which is also the first ancient genome from the entire Mediterranean area. This new genome allows to…

Research into 430,000-year-old fossils collected in northern Spain found that the evolution of the human body's size and shape has gone through four main stages, according to a recent paper.  A…