Q: Why do we humans have a hard time understanding, and sometimes accepting, evolution? What, in your opinion, is the major stumbling block? A: Deep time is hard to grasp. I don't know that it or any ...

Scientists explored the evolutionary success of leaf beetles, the most diverse herbivores on Earth. They showed that symbioses with bacteria have evolved repeatedly and independently in different ...

The intersection of human evolution and Earth’s environmental history brings together two areas of scientific study with exceptionally high public visibility and broad societal interest—human ...

Comparing genome sequences of microbes is one of the most popular ways of tracking and understanding their evolution. The genomes of microbes differ fundamentally from many animal and plant ones. They ...

Researchers have shown how laboratory evolution can give rise to highly efficient enzymes for new-to-nature reactions, opening the door for novel and more environmentally friendly ways to make drugs ...

South Africa has one of the world’s richest fossil records of hominins (humans and their fossil ancestors). But many misconceptions still exist regarding human evolution, and school textbooks contain ...

From butterflies to blue whales, corals and worms, Earth is home to an incredible diversity of animals. How all of these animals evolved from earlier, simpler ancestors is one of the most exciting ...

The title to this website is quite the enigma, as “understanding evolution” seems to simultaneously be both an easy task and an impossible undertaking. Indeed, there is a difference between grasping ...

On a recent summer evening, my wife was busy page-turning our copy of the weekly New Yorker magazine. Like many of us, the cartoons were the main attraction with occasional stops at articles that ...

Evolution is perhaps the most extraordinary story ever told—a tale spanning billions of years that connects every living thing on Earth through an intricate web of shared ancestry. From the tiniest ...

A new study shows how the virus that causes COVID-19 is related to the virus that caused the SARS outbreak of 2003. The new family tree of these viruses could help predict which viruses circulating in ...