April 10, 2018
Origins of plant photosynthesis illuminated
Photosynthesis, the process by which plants harness sunlight to make their food, is a defining feature of plants and an important evolutionary …
The EARTH archive
Evolutionary Biology
Explore the archive by subject.
19 articles · Page 1 of 1
December 14, 2017
Predators may have spurred evolution of ancient brittle stars
Threats to species can encourage evolution, leading to animals with harder shells or other defensive adaptations. In a recent study in the …
May 17, 2017
Horses evolved to get along: Competition between species not main evolutionary driver
Horses have changed size and shape dramatically over the last 20 million years, evolving from small dog-sized creatures with multiple toes into …
February 16, 2017
Tiny fish illuminates tooth fairy mystery
When kids lose their milk teeth, the roots shrivel up and just the outer enamel falls out — a process known as basal resorption. Now, the …
October 18, 2016
Turtle shells evolved for burrowing, not protection
How the turtle got its shell is one of the long-standing conundrums of paleontology. Paleontologists know that one of the first steps toward a …
June 16, 2016
Cretaceous amber suggests societal behavior in insects is at least 100 million years old
Many insects are social animals. Some, including ants, form colonies with complex social hierarchies, wherein specific roles like reproduction …
April 21, 2016
Fish evolved quickly after earthquake
Evolution is often thought of as occurring over very long timescales, but as a tiny Alaskan fish demonstrates, significant changes can take place …
October 8, 2015
Tree of life reshaped
Since the 1970s, the classic “tree of life” taught in classrooms has portrayed three domains of life — Archaea, Bacteria and Eukaryota — all …
October 6, 2015
A Cambrian-like explosion of mammals in the Mid-Jurassic
Dinosaurs dominated the continents during the Mesozoic, and for a long time, paleontologists assumed our mammalian ancestors kept a low-profile …
June 8, 2015
Bigger is better in the sea
Since first appearing in the fossil record more than 550 million years ago, complex animals have steadily grown in average size, from millimeters …
April 7, 2015
Bird genomes untangle branches of avian family tree
Birds, the only surviving descendants of dinosaurs, have one of the most fascinating — and perplexing — family trees in the animal kingdom. To …
January 5, 2012
Questions arise over earliest evidence of human tool use
The debate over when our ancestors first used stone tools is not over just yet. In August, researchers had reported finding scratch marks on two …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Was mankind's first leap in a forest or savanna?
Last October, scientists formally introduced the world to Ardi the Ardipithecus, the well-preserved skeleton of a 4.4-million-year-old hominin …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Primates of the Caribbean
The only monkeys you’ll find on the islands of the Caribbean today were brought there (intentionally or not) by people. But just a few thousand …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Neanderthal genome offers clues on what makes us human
Did “Clan of the Cave Bear” get it right after all? Probably not, but at least one aspect of the ice age saga is true: Modern humans interbred …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: A hominin family reunion at the Smithsonian
Last month, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., unveiled its new (permanent) human evolution exhibit: the …
January 5, 2012
How amphibious whales returned to the sea
Millions of years ago, the first animals emerged from their watery habitat to live on dry land. After becoming fully adapted to a terrestrial …
January 5, 2012
Highlights of 2010: What does it mean to be human?
The sequencing of the Neanderthal genome in 2010 helps scientists answer the age-old question Calling someone a “Neanderthal” in the heat of an …
January 5, 2012
Benchmarks: February 12, 1809: Charles Robert Darwin is born - and so began modern biology
As celebrations in honor of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday are in full swing this month, a revolution is rumbling through evolutionary biology. …