Life on Earth began in a way that still boggles the mind. Around 4.5 billion years ago, a chemical process called abiogenesis ...

Human evolution is often told as a tidy story of adaptation, yet some of our most familiar body parts still defy straightforward explanation. From the jut of the human chin to the curve of the outer ...

The study of human origins provides a fundamental narrative for our biological and cultural evolution. By combining fossil evidence with archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data, we can trace the ...

If we look across the whole of the mammal branch of the tree of life, we find there are many groups of mammals that have ...

Human newborns arrive remarkably underdeveloped. The reason lies in a deep evolutionary trade-off between big brains, bipedalism and the limits of motherhood.

UCL scientists found that human skulls evolved much faster than those of other apes, reflecting the powerful forces driving our brain growth and facial flattening. By comparing 3D models of ape skulls ...

What will humans be like generations from now in a world transformed by artificial intelligence (AI)? Plenty of thinkers have applied themselves to questions like this, considering how AI will alter ...

CRISPR will get easier and easier to administer. What does that mean for the future of our species? In 2016, I attended a large meeting of journalists in Washington, DC. The keynote speaker was ...

Human evolution has long been tied to growing brain size, and new research suggests prenatal hormones may have played a surprising role. By studying the relative lengths of index and ring fingers — a ...