A new study shows the virus could have doubled the frequency of genetic variants in a South African province if effective ...

When our distant ancestors first traded nomadic life for farming, villages, and permanent homes, you might assume that the ...

The human genome is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes, the biological blueprints that make humans … well, human. But it turns out that some of our DNA — about 8% — are the remnants of ancient viruses ...

The idea that modern humans inherited DNA from Neanderthal ancestors is one of the 21st century’s most celebrated discoveries in evolution. It may not be that simple.

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 ...

Long before evolution equipped them with the right teeth, early humans began eating tough grasses and starchy underground plants—foods rich in energy but hard to chew. A new study reveals that this ...

As humanity prepares to take its first steps on Mars, a comprehensive report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and steered by scientists at Penn State lays out ...

Over the past 10,000 years, evolution in West Eurasia has been selecting for light skin, red hair and resistance to HIV and leprosy in humans, according to a new study. When you purchase through links ...

A skull fragment discovered over fifty years ago on the banks of the Elbe River in Germany has finally yielded its secrets. Long considered by some researchers to be a rare Neanderthal-modern human ...

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 ...