evolution

George Rappleyea and John Scopes (left) instigated the trial in Dayton, Tennessee, where Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan (right) battled over Darwin’s theory of evolution.

How a 24-year-old Tennessee teacher, a Bible-thumping prosecutor, and a chimpanzee found themselves at the center of the nation’s most contentious trial a century ago.

Believe it or not, a great white shark‘s coloring helps it survive.

Let’s dive into the evolutionary science behind the great white’s namesake feature.

From the long legs of the jerboa to basically everything about the duck-billed platypus, evolution has taken some weird turns.

Here‘s the dreaded wisdom tooth doing its thing.

Once essential for early humans, wisdom teeth are now more of a nuisance than a necessity.

The Chimborazo hillstar is native to the Andes of Ecuador and southern Colombia.

An ornithologist discovered a hummingbird “hive” in Ecuador‘s High Andes—a major departure for the solitary animals.

Red hair and freckles are two traits partially determined by genes.

Humans are now known to have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes, but researchers still have much to learn about these small segments of DNA.

Our closest evolutionary cousin, the chimpanzee.

‘Survival of the fittest’ is Darwin 101. But did you know that Charles Darwin didn’t actually coin that phrase? Let’s explore some common myths and misconceptions about evolution.

Stenciled human hands in a cave near Rio Pinturas, Argentina, dating from the last ice age.

We break down some common myths about our early human ancestors—and what makes our species, ‘Homo sapiens,’ so different from them.

Foot pain and sprained ankles are just a few of the common problems affecting our ill-adapted feet.

From back injuries to difficult childbirth, here are six annoying parts of being human that you can blame on evolution.

A Neanderthal skull against a backdrop of the German valley where the first specimens of the human ancestor were found.

Often dismissed as “primitive,” our extinct relatives were surprisingly thoughtful. Some were also cannibals.

A 1920 mural by paleoartist Charles Robert Knight depicting Cro-Magnon people painting on cave walls at Font-de-Gaume, France.

These prehistoric members of our genus, ‘Homo,’ occupy different branches of the human family tree.

A replica of the Laetoli footprints discovered in Laetoli, Tanzania; The original footprints were dated to 3.6 million years ago.

Scientists have uncovered ancient fossils, prehistoric artwork, and other clues to human evolution. Here are nine of the most revealing discoveries that have changed our understanding of our early ancestors—and ourselves.

Within the last 200 years, we’ve discovered about two dozen species of hominins in Europe, Africa, and Asia—which you can see laid out in this map.

An artist’s rendering of what Lucy may have looked like in life.

Lucy walked on her own two feet. Scientists weren’t expecting that.

They basically share a genome, but chimps and bonobos have some not-so-subtle differences.

Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, the site of humankind's earliest ancestors.

The gorge in northern Tanzania has yielded many of the oldest fossils of humankind, shedding new light on our ancient ancestors.

A fragment of an arm bone found on Flores, Indonesia, suggests that some of our human ancestors were even smaller than we thought.

Detail of a diorama of a Neanderthal mother and child at the Moravian Provincial Museum in Brno, Czech Republic.

A fossilized ear bone supports the idea that Neanderthals helped raise the child collectively and altruistically.

They’re both in the camel family and live in South America, but alpacas and llamas aren’t the same species.

The alien-looking, bloodsucking fish have cells that may form the same rudimentary nervous system we have.

A replica of the Denisovan finger bone discovered in 2010.

The Denisovans went extinct around 30,000 years ago. Scientists are just beginning to unravel their genetic legacy.

Birds are a noisy bunch, and there's a lot of variation when it comes to avian vocalizations.

Eyebrows are the Swiss Army knife of the human face.

Gasping when you're surprised is a quirk of evolution.

Gasping is tied to an innate survival mechanism, hardwired into humans through evolution: the fight-or-flight response.

10 Surprising Facts About the Scopes Monkey Trial

Why Do Great White Sharks Have White Bellies?

6 Strange Animal Evolutions

Why Do People Have Wisdom Teeth?

Hummingbirds Found Nesting Together in Groups in Surprising First

13 Facts About Genes

7 Misconceptions About Evolution

5 Misconceptions About Early Humans

6 Downsides of Human Evolution

‘Thal Order: 11 Things You Might Not Know About Neanderthals

Neanderthal vs. Cro-Magnon: What’s the Difference?

9 Fascinating Discoveries that Changed Our Understanding of Human Evolution

The Discoveries of 21 Human Ancestors, Mapped

On the Origin of Lucy: How One Extraordinary Fossil Helped Alter Our View of Human Evolution

Chimpanzees vs. Bonobos: What’s the Difference?

8 Facts about Olduvai Gorge, the “Cradle of Mankind”

New Fossils Add to Mystery Surrounding the “Hobbit,” Our Smallest Human Ancestor

Neanderthals Cared for a Child with Down Syndrome

Alpacas vs. Llamas: What’s the Difference?

9 Facts About the Denisovans, Our Mysterious Human Ancestor

Why Do Some Birds Sing, While Others Caw?

Why Do We Have Eyebrows?

Why Do We Gasp When We're Surprised or Alarmed?