Modern humans may have left the continent as long 200,000 years ago, a new analysis suggests.
Author: CARL ZIMMER
This Strange Microbe May Mark One of Life’s Great Leaps
A organism living in ocean muck offers clues to the origins of the complex cells of all animals and plants.
Why Is Air Pollution So Harmful? DNA May Hold the Answer
It’s not just a modern problem. Airborne toxins are so pernicious that they may have shaped human evolution.
Fractured Forests Are Endangering Wildlife, Scientists Find
The world’s forests are being carved into pieces. In tropical regions, animals are likely to pay a heavy price.
How Did Plants Conquer Land? These Humble Algae Hold Clues
Two algal species share important genes with all modern land plants, a new analysis finds.
Humans Shipped an Awful Cargo Across the Seas: Cancer
A cancer afflicting mussels originated off the Pacific coast of Canada, but then crossed into other species in Europe and South America.
Birds Are Vanishing From North America
The number of birds in the United States and Canada has declined by 3 billion, or 29 percent, over the past half-century, scientists find.
In the Ethiopian Mountains, Ancient Humans Were Living the High Life
Humans may have inhabited sites at high elevations far earlier than once believed, a new study suggests.
A Skull Bone Discovered in Greece May Alter the Story of Human Prehistory
The bone, found in a cave, is the oldest modern human fossil ever discovered in Europe. It hints that humans began leaving Africa far earlier than once thought.
Wired Bacteria Form Nature’s Power Grid: ‘We Have an Electric Planet’
Electroactive bacteria were running current through “wires” long before humans learned the trick.