What is the origin of bird digits? This question has caused a lot of head-scratching and beard-stroking in evolutionary biologists. Paleontological evidence suggests that the three digits in birds…

In 2008, a fossil tooth and finger bone were found in a cave in Siberia. After analysis it turned out to belong to a new species of human, now known as the Denisovans. In 2010, a draft of the…

You ever wondered why it is that we share only 50% of our genes with a sibling but 98% with chimpanzees? Humans are a freak of nature. We are in between a so called ‘tournament species’ and a ‘pair-…

A new study, published in Science, analyzed regulatory elements in the vertebrate genome and found three waves of evolutionary innovation in the evolution of vertebrates. Many important evolutionary…

Can we stop the crap about "selfishness" and "altruism" when discussing animal behavior?  It's absolutely ridiculous the unnatural gyrations researchers go through to try and reconcile behaviors…

Anisogamy (see figure 1), or sexual reproduction in which two different gametes fuse to produce a new individual, leads to an inequality between female and male organisms. After all, females produce…

Where are we humans going, as a species? If science fiction is any guide, we will genetically evolve like in X-Men, become genetically engineered as in Gattaca, or become cybernetically enhanced like…

Molluscs are Marvellous! — as regular readers of “Squid-a-Day” will know. The recent presentation there of Celebrate Squid Babies brought to mind the following, from Darwin’s notebooks…

Evolutionary psychology is a field that examines human psychological traits through evolutionary glasses. Most human psychological traits are considered adaptations, the functional products of…

Human-like features of the feet and gait were in existence almost two million years earlier than previously thought, according to recent analysis of ancient footprints in Laetoli, Tanzania. Earlier…