Evolution

RNA can make copies of itself, and also catalyze its self-replication. But how could such a complex molecule in simple organisms copy itself without any mutations? And how did these complex molecules emerge before advanced life forms?

Fascinating new analysis of fabric samples and other artifacts from a cave in Oregon reveals that humans may have stitched clothing as far back as 12,600 years ago – giving us an understanding of a critical aspect of evolution in that period.

When escaped domestic pigs bred with wild boar after the Fukushima evacuation, researchers gained a rare chance to observe large-scale hybridization. The result offers a new lens on how fast-breeding traits can quietly reshape wildlife genetics.

Male nipples. Whale pelvic bones. Vestigial hind limbs in snakes. Evolution is full of features that look purposeful but are actually by-products with no explicit function. New research suggests the human chin may be one such evolutionary side effect.

For two decades giant viruses have unsettled one of biology’s most fundamental boundaries forcing scientists to rethink how cellular complexity emerged. A newly discovered giant virus sharpens that debate, offering clues about how a key feature of most complex life may have evolved.

The earliest ancestors of all backboned animals, including humans, may have viewed the world with four eyes, not just two, according to a new study. The remnants of those extra eyes persist deep in the human brain today as the pineal organ.

We generally associate the origins of mathematical thinking with the emergence of writing but a new study challenges this assumption looking at floral designs found on the pottery sherds across northern Mesopotamia, dating back 8000 years.

New research has found when plant leaves physically touch each other, they seem to form a biological signalling network to warn each other about upcoming stress. This boosts resilience to intense light, a common environmental challenge.

For the first time, we know more than we ever expected to know about the sex lives of the majestic beluga whale. It's complicated, to say the least, but it also shows just how strategic nature is at keeping an isolated group of animals alive.

A new study reveals jellyfish not only sleep but do so for the same portion of their day as humans, spending about one-third of the day sleeping. The findings also suggest that sleep evolved way before the brain to help maintain cells under stress.

For more than a century, biologists assumed that the bony plates found in the skin of lizards – nature's chain mail – were an ancient feature that some lineages inherited and others later lost. But new evidence suggests this is entirely wrong.

When COVID-19 lockdowns emptied city streets, urban environments changed almost overnight. New research suggests that Los Angeles city birds responded just as quickly, with measurable shifts in beak shape in offspring born during the lockdown period.