Biology, Evolution and More Human Origins News

#59: The Mismeasure of Stephen Jay Gould

01.03.2012 Looking deeper into Stephen Jay Gould's claims has revealed he was guilty of the same sins he decried in others.

by William Saletan

#80: Neanderthal DNA Boosts Your Immune System  

Did early matings with Neanderthals increase our ability to fight disease? 12.22.2011

The Sperm Crisis: A Tough Nut to Crack

Bad food, bad genes, and monogamy are sucking the life out of human sperm. But conceptive gels and stem cells could bring some virility back. 11.08.2011

Egypt's Ancient Fleet: Lost for Thousands of Years, Discovered in a Desolate Cave

An ancient harbor on  the Red Sea proves  ancient Egyptians  mastered oceangoing technology and  launched a series of  ambitious expeditions  to far-off lands.   09.06.2011

Homo Sapiens, Meet Your New Astounding Family

Once we shared the planet with other  human species,  competing with them and interbreeding with them. Today  we stand alone, but our rivals’ genes live on inside us—even as their remarkable stories are only  now coming to light. 07.28.2011

Monkeys  & Morality

The institutions of science are slowly unwinding and assessing the problems that have been revealed in psychologist Marc Hauser's research. 06.20.2011

5 Questions for the Woman Who Found Somalia's History

After Sada Mire returned to her homeland, she found archaeological treasures that hadn't been seen in thousands of years. 06.19.2011

How Societies Slowly Rise—and Suddenly Fall

New models suggest groups of humans evolve following some universal rules, and not unlike how organisms evolve. 06.16.2011

Bronze Age Brain Surgeons

5,000 years ago, people living in Turkey were surprisingly good at what seems like a purely modern practice. 06.08.2011

Lost Civilizations Found in the Jungle

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Amazon may have been a much different landscape, with millions of human inhabitants managing the land. 05.10.2011

#5: Family Genomics Links DNA to Disease

04.28.2011

If Modern Humans Are So Smart, Why Are Our Brains Shrinking?

Here are some leading theories about the why the human brain has been getting smaller since the Stone Age. 01.20.2011

The Alien Seekers of SETI Are Just Getting Started

For 50 years a devoted group of scientists has been listening for signals from intelligent life. Despite all the dead air, the true believers say the odds of success are now better than ever. 01.03.2011