When Dawkins met Claude – UnHerd
The Turing Test is shorthand for a 1950 thought experiment that the great mathematician, logician, computer-pioneer, and cryptographer…
Meet The Eel That Generates 800V — A Biologist Explains How It Doesn’t Electrocute Itself
At first glance, the electric eel’s abilities feel implausible. But upon a closer inspection, we find a precise,…
Why Are 90% Of Humans Right-Handed? An Evolutionary Biologist Explains
Why do 90% of humans reach with the same hand? The answer stretches back millions of years and…
Landmark ancient-genome study shows surprise acceleration of human evolution
Some gene variants became consistently more or less frequent over time in ancient human populations — a sign…
Surprise fossil discoveries push back the evolution of complex animals
Artist’s reconstruction of the ancient ocean ecosystem preserved in the Jiangchuan biota Xiaodong Wang A huge and beautifully…
dissecting the body’s battle to keep selfish genes in check
The Paradox of the Organism: Adaptation and Internal Conflict J. Arvid Ågren and Manus M. Patten (eds) Harvard…
Ancient DNA Study Rewrites Origins of Europe’s First Dogs
Scientists have extracted and analyzed DNA from 216 canid remains, including 181 from Paleolithic and Mesolithic Europe. The…
Can species evolve fast enough to survive as the planet heats up?
A cracked riverbed along the Sacramento River during a drought in California Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images For…
Why Don’t Humans Have A Mating Season? An Evolutionary Biologist Explains
Humans don’t have a defined mating season like deer or wolves. Here’s how evolution rewired our reproduction by…
This giant virus hijacks cells’ protein-making machinery to multiply wildly
Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (artist’s impression) is a giant among viruses, both in physical size and because of the…