Living World / Evolution

The Calculating Beauty of Butterflies

How butterflies' colorful wing patterns help them hide, lie, and impress the ladies. 11.11.2009

The Big Idea That Might Beat Cancer and Cut Health-Care Costs by 80 Percent

Paul Ewald says infections are responsible for at least four-fifths of all cancers—and we have the tools to prevent them. 09.30.2009

Intelligent Design's 8 Biggest Fails

The latest incarnation of creationism keeps trying—and failing—to take down Darwin. 09.17.2009

The Science of Obama’s Fly-Swatting

A combination of good strategy and some facets of human evolution overcame the bug's impressive natural defenses. 06.18.2009

The Best New Science Books

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Area 51, modern life vs human nature, and more 02.20.2009

DNA Agrees With All the Other Science: Darwin Was Right

Molecular biologist Sean Carroll shows how evolution happens, one snippet of DNA at a time 02.19.2009

Darwin's Dystopias: Ghastly Visions Inspired by Evolution

A new collection of art shows how one scientist shocked the world. 02.12.2009

We All Live in Darwin's World

“Survival of the fittest” is helping us understand not only the origin of species but also love, politics, and even the cosmos. 02.11.2009

Six Sites That Are the Galapagos For Modern Darwins

Researchers see amazing twists of evolution at the biological hot spots. 02.10.2009

DISCOVER Special Evolution Section

The future of Homo sapiens, genetic proof of evolution, the next Galapagos, and more. 02.04.2009

#30: Magpies Recognize Themselves in the Mirror

The birds pass the test for "rudimentary sense of self." 12.17.2008

#36: Creationism Lurks in Public High Schools

One in six teachers say they believe the earth is 6,000 years old. 12.15.2008

#63: Lizardlike Tuatara Sets a Speed Record for DNA Change

The reptile undergoes rapid molecular evolution but is largely unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. 12.10.2008

#75: Chilies' Fire Is Self-Defense Against a Surprising Foe

Capsaicin keeps fungus from chomping on pepper plants but does nothing to dissuade hungry bugs. 12.09.2008

#87: Speedy Sperm Explains Flower Power

The quickest out of the gate, angiosperms dominate the plant world. 12.07.2008

#92: A 380-Million-Year-Old Fish Gives Birth

Paleontologists unearth a prehistoric pregnant skeleton. 12.05.2008

#98: You're More Like a Sponge Than a Comb Jelly

A gelatinous zooplankton can now trace its roots back to the world's first life. 12.04.2008

Mom and Dad Are Fighting in Your Genes—and in Your Brain

Our brains may contain a battle of the sexes that can cause schizophrenia and autism. 11.10.2008

The Apple as Battlefield: People vs. Nature

Farmers clone millions of apple trees. Millions of pests lick their chops. 10.15.2008

Could Pandas Be an Evolutionary Mistake—or Proof of an Intelligent Designer?

They don’t seem to care for sex or proper nutrition, raising questions about whether the fittest have survived. 08.05.2008

Your Inner Fish

Learn to love your body for what it really is: a jury-rigged fish. 02.21.2008

Did Life Evolve in Ice?

Funky properties of frozen water may have made life possible. 02.01.2008

Bacteria Invade Genomes, Not Just Bodies

A bacterial genome sets up shop right in a fruit fly's DNA. 12.07.2007

Why Aren’t All People Beautiful?

Maybe the genes that make hot males make distinctly un-hot females. 11.27.2007

Mapping the Mammal Takeover

A family tree illustrates the rise and diversification of furry animals. 11.23.2007

The Real Dirty Secret about Sex

Life doesn’t need it, so why do we do it? 11.12.2007

One Universe, Under God

Creationism battles for the hearts and minds of America’s teachers. 10.01.2007

The Simplistic Manifesto

Intelligent design misses the point. Again. 07.02.2007

Aliens Among Us

Do we share Earth with alternative life forms? 06.27.2007

Against All Odds, Sex Has Returned

A mite reevolves sex after hundreds of millions of years without it. 06.19.2007

Darwin’s Lost World

Evolution is alive and swimming in Borneo. 04.26.2007

Not So Fast, Einstein

Human brain evolution seems to be slowing. 04.11.2007

Blinded by Science: Stuck in Creationism

The designers of the Creation Museum insist that science is fundamental. 02.12.2007

Jaron's World: Frozen in Time

Birth reveals the transitional nature of the design. 12.12.2006

The Exact Cost of Diversity

Temperatures can affect how new fast species arise. 09.01.2006

Unintelligent Design

A monstrous discovery suggests that viruses, long regarded as lowly evolutionary latecomers, may have been the precursors of all life on Earth 03.15.2006

The Ur-Plant

DNA analysis reveals the identity of the first plants. 11.01.1998

The Importance of Noses

They do more than smell: they contain tiny bones that keep us from getting dehydrated. 08.01.1994