One of the defining features of human evolution is the steady expansion of our brains. New findings suggest this growth may be partly linked to higher levels of estrogen before birth. Surprisingly, a ...

Many people hold the view that evolution in humans has come to a halt. But while modern medicine and technologies have changed the environment in which evolution operates, many scientists are in ...

If we look across the whole of the mammal branch of the tree of life, we find there are many groups of mammals that have ...

New research has pinpointed the likely time in prehistory when humans first began to speak. Analysis by British archaeologist Steven Mithen suggests that early humans first developed rudimentary ...

Life on Earth began in a way that still boggles the mind. Around 4.5 billion years ago, a chemical process called abiogenesis ...

In 1758, Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus gave humans a scientific name: Homo sapiens, which means "wise human" in Latin. Although Linnaeus grouped humans with other apes, it was English biologist ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A reconstruction of the crushed skull labelled Yunxian 2, which has features that are closer to species thought to have existed ...

Human newborns arrive remarkably underdeveloped. The reason lies in a deep evolutionary trade-off between big brains, bipedalism and the limits of motherhood.

A fossilised human skull unearthed in China and dated to around one million years ago may radically change what we know about the origins of our species. Researchers say the analysis suggests Homo ...

Where do we come from and how did we evolve into the beings and bodies we are today? The new book "Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution" argues for a better ...

The evolution of the human species is marked by an increase in brain size. Now new research suggests that could be partly dependent on increases in prenatal estrogen—revealed by looking at the length ...

Scientists in a recent research study have uncovered a surprising link between the 2.7 million-year-old climate tipping point and human evolution. The researchers led by the University of ...