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Feline evolution: How house cats and humans domesticated each other

Jonathan Losos | 
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to go on safari in southern Africa. One of the greatest thrills ...
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Tracing the history of evolutionary psychology all the way back to Charles Darwin

Glenn Geher | 
Evolutionary psychology can be traced back to Darwin's own work. Several variants have emerged on the scene over the decades ...
Ekgmowechashala mystery resolved: Unique Chinese monkey-like creature was the last primate to populate the US before humans arrived

Ekgmowechashala mystery solved: Unique Chinese monkey-like creature was last primate to populate the Americas before humans arrived

Matt Hrodey | 
Besides being a spelling bee stumper, Ekgmowechashala likely descended from animals in China and somehow migrated to North America ...
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GLP podcast/video: Many Americans still reject evolution; should we worry? Top-10 food myths, debunked; Farmers finally growing Golden Rice

Cameron English, Liza Dunn | 
The creation-evolution debate has fallen out of the spotlight in recent years, but many Americans still reject Darwin's theory. Should ...
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Is there an evolutionary explanation for homosexuality in animals, including humans?

Jenny Graves | 
Since gay couples have fewer children, the high frequency of same-sex relationships in humans is puzzling from an evolutionary point ...
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Genetic research equity: Why researchers are sequencing genomes of 500,000 people of African ancestry

Rodrigo Pérez Ortega | 
The $80 million effort will provide researchers at U.S. HBCUs and African institutions with exclusive access to the data ...
Why it’s so critical to move beyond liberal rejectionism of human biodiversity

Why it’s so critical to move beyond liberal rejectionism of human biodiversity

Jon Entine, Patrick Whittle | 
The way in which evolutionary explanations can be so readily applied to apparent differences in human psychology does highlight the ...
fallacies

GLP podcast/video: BBC corrects botched organic farming report; Happy 41st birthday, GMO insulin! Scientific American a ‘scientific sewer’?

Cameron English, Liza Dunn | 
Facing intense criticism from experts, the BBC was pushed to correct a deeply misleading story about the benefits of organic ...
Ancient pairing: Neanderthals and humans first interbred 250,000 years ago, new analysis shows

Ancient pairing: Neanderthals and humans first interbred 250,000 years ago, new analysis shows

Emily Cooke | 
It was previously believed that Neanderthals and humans first encountered each other around 75,000 years ago ...
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Octopuses are incredibly intelligent creatures. Should they receive more protection against scientific experimentation?

Matthew Rozsa | 
According to Dr. Barbara J. King, professor emerita of anthropology at the College of William & Mary and author of ...
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Blame human evolution for corporate jargon and thick academic prose

Patrick Whittle | 
For anyone who’s ever worked in a large organization, this kind of message will be depressingly familiar: “Do you have ...
What might our pre-human ape ancestors look like? This 12 million year reconstructed face may provide clues

What might our pre-human ape ancestors have looked like? This 12-million-year-old reconstructed face may provide clues

Rob Waugh | 
Skull and bones of European ape were found together and could be one of the earliest relatives of human race ...
It’s become axiomatic that the ability to eat meat helped spur development of intelligence in early humans. Let’s reassess

It’s become axiomatic that the ability to eat meat helped spur development of intelligence in early humans. Let’s reassess

Katharina Menne | 
Modern man is a born meat eater, they reason, as a glance at human history shows. What's more, the mastery ...
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Viewpoint: Scientific American has become a ’scientific sewer’, promoting ideological rubbish on the evolution of male-female differences, claims University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne

Jerry Coyne | 
I read this new article in Scientific American claiming that women constituted a high proportion of hunters in early hunter-gatherer ...
Biotechnology timeline: Humans have manipulated genes since the 'dawn of civilization'

Biotechnology timeline: Humans have manipulated genes since the ‘dawn of civilization’

Brian Colwell | 
The history of biotechnology shows how humans have been manipulating nature for our benefit for a long time—and how modern ...
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How to argue about ‘race’: Charles Murray and Adam Rutherford are not so far apart

Patrick Whittle | 
Shortly before the killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer in May this year, two (now tragically ...
What geologists think the landmasses of the world might look like in 250 million years

Pangaea Ultima: What geologists think landmasses of the world might look like in 250 million years

Jonathan O'Callaghan | 
Only a fraction of the planet’s surface will be habitable to mammals when the next supercontinent, Pangaea Ultima, forms ...
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Viewpoint: How genetics shapes human differences and why we shouldn’t avoid talking about this taboo

Elizabeth Gilbert | 
There’s a long history of people misusing genetics research to justify societal inequalities; many people have chosen to ignore it ...
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Background mutations: Why CRISPR-edited genes have to work together with thousands of naturally-evolved genes

Luis Sandoval | 
For tens of thousands of years, evolution shaped tomatoes through natural mutations. Then, humans came along. For centuries, we’ve bred ...
Neanderthals in all of us: Genetic legacy of our Pleistocene ancestors broadens our understanding of disease and survival

Neanderthals are in all of us: Genetic legacy of our Pleistocene ancestors broadens understanding of disease and survival

Laura Ungar, Maddie Burakoff | 
Scientists are finding that traits inherited from our ancient cousins are still with us now, affecting our fertility, our immune ...
Does same-sex bonding in animals provide insight about sexual orientation in humans?

Does same-sex bonding in animals provide insight into sexual orientation in humans?

Carl Zimmer | 
Apes branched off from other primates about 25 million years ago and evolved a much higher rate of same-sex sexual ...
How brainless jellyfish are capable of learning

How brainless jellyfish are capable of learning

Cnidarians -- the animal group which includes jellyfish, sea anemones and coral -- are brainless, instead getting by with a ...
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The evolution of cuteness (or why Ryan Gosling’s Ken has captured so many hearts worldwide)

Joshua Paul Dale | 
The big idea: The question of how to trigger the cuteness response has implications beyond toys and movies ...
How octopi can edit their own RNA to rapidly respond to environmental changes

How octopi can edit their own RNA to rapidly respond to environmental changes

Ricki Lewis | 
How organisms rapidly respond to a challenge: For an octopus, that might be a sudden plunge in water temperature, which ...
Could/should we use science to bring the Tasmanian tiger back from extinction?

Could or should we use science to bring the Tasmanian tiger back from extinction?

Kristin Houser | 
CRISPR and the Tasmanian tiger: Resurrecting the species could help restore ecological balance in Australia ...
Modern humans overlapped with at least seven now extinct hominid ancestors, and in many cases integrating their DNA

Modern humans co-existed with at least seven now extinct hominid ancestors, and in many cases integrated their DNA

Laura Ungar, Maddie Burakoff | 
Ancient DNA technology has revolutionized the way we study human history and has quickly taken off, with a constant stream ...
Sensitivity to pain may be linked to our inherited Neanderthal genes

Sensitivity to pain may be linked to our inherited Neanderthal genes

Laura Baisas | 
Scientists are still not sure if carrying these ancient genetic variants and greater sensitivity to pain was an evolutionary advantage ...
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