For most of our evolutionary history, human activity has been linked to daylight. Technology has liberated us from these ancient sleep-wake cycles, but there is evidence sunlight has left and continues to leave its mark.
Bacteria can develop a heightened new sensitivity to acid levels when exposed to different environmental extremes in the laboratory, a new study shows.
A new study has found that life on Earth emerged surprisingly early. Scientists have determined that the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), the first organism that spawned all the life that exists today on Earth, emerged as early as 4.2 billion years ago.
New research provides the clearest evidence yet that the Cambrian explosion - a rapid burst of evolution 540 million years ago, could have been triggered by only a small increase in oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere and shallow ocean waters.
The Homo sapiens genome today contains a little bit of Neanderthal DNA. These genetic traces come from almost every part of the Neanderthal genome – except the Y sex chromosome, which is responsible for making males.
The human brain is said to be the most complex object in the known Universe. Its 89 billion neurons each have around 7,000 connections on average, and the physical structure of all those entities may be balanced precariously on a knife's edge.
Research is showing that many of our contemporary problems, such as the rising prevalence of mental health issues, are emerging from rapid technological advancement and modernisation.
Scientists have traced bioluminescence to its earliest known evolutionary origins: a class of corals called Octocorallia in the depths of the ocean in the Cambrian, some 540 million years ago.
Millions of years ago, vertebrates were infected by a virus, which played an important role in the evolution of human beings and the development of brains and human bodies.
A study by evolutionary neuroscientists suggests our minds develop thanks to fermentation. It made food easier to digest and contained more nutrients, facilitating our grey matter’s development.
The 'longevity bottleneck' hypothesis has been proposed by Professor Joao Pedro de Magalhaes from the UK. The hypothesis connects the role that dinosaurs played over 100 million years with the aging process in mammals.
An international team of researchers has developed a new theoretical framework that bridges physics and biology to provide a unified approach for understanding how complexity and evolution emerge in nature.
The new discovery lends weight to the theory that the hominins first evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa 7–9 million years ago.
A new study suggests that decreases in brain size in modern humans may be driven by natural selection in response to climate change and environmental stress, starting around 15,000 years ago.
A new study found that the Y chromosomes are degenerating gradually across many species of mammals.
