Malaria may have shaped early human life across Africa far earlier than once thought, steering where people could safely live and when groups stayed apart. By tracing ancient mosquito habitats, ...

Human evolution has often been depicted as a process of adaptation, where natural selection and genetic changes drive species toward better-suited traits for survival in their environments. But this ...

Humans really do rule the world. We took over fast and far, more than any other wild vertebrates. We inhabit nearly every corner of the world, and can thrive in deserts, tropical rainforests and even ...

This is an extract from Our Human Story, our newsletter about the revolution in archaeology. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every month. If I tried to recap all the new fossils, new methods and ...

Ancient DNA from nearly 16,000 genomes suggests human evolution accelerated after farming, cities, and the Bronze Age transformed Europe.

Even tiny muscles around the ears hint at our evolutionary past. In many mammals, tiny ear muscles allow the outer ear (pinna ...

Research from an international team finds that the human gut is a site of rapid change, with recent and important deviations from other mammals, including our closest living relative, the chimpanzee.

This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. The human body is full of evolutionary compromises. The loss of the tail may be one of the ...

Scientists in Chicago are mapping some fascinating evolutionary changes to local rodents — and how humans may have contributed to that change. Adaptation and evolution can steer the trajectory of a ...

A new review highlights how human evolution has shaped the presence of pathogenic variations in DNA damage repair (DDR) genes, offering a new perspective on why modern populations face increased ...