Human evolution may no longer be driven primarily by genetics, according to a new theory by researchers at the University of Maine which claims that cultural systems are now shaping the way humans ...

He lived hundreds of thousands of years ago, eking out an existence in what is today central China. Sporting a squat neck and a big brain, he likely wielded tools made of stone and hunted or scavenged ...

A large-scale climate simulation combined with fossil evidence shows how shifts in temperature and rainfall guided human migration and evolution. Changes driven by Earth’s orbital cycles altered ...

Fossils unearthed in Ethiopia are reshaping our view of human evolution. Instead of a straight march from ape-like ancestors to modern humans, researchers now see a tangled, branching tree with ...

Researchers found that ancient hominids—including early humans—were exposed to lead throughout childhood, leaving chemical traces in fossil teeth. Experiments suggest this exposure may have driven ...

A new Yale study provides a fuller picture of the genetic changes that shaped the evolution of the human brain, and how the process differed from the evolution of chimpanzees. For the study, published ...

Throughout most of human history, evolution progressed slowly. Small genetic changes took thousands of years to permeate populations. Natural selection was intentional, reactive, and gradual. However, ...

Four lifelike reconstructions of prehistoric humans have been unveiled — including a model of a species often dubbed "the hobbit," which, as an adult, was about the same height as a modern 4-year-old.

Our species, Homo sapiens, has been evolving for more than 300,000 years, but the story of human origins starts much earlier. Since evolving from the common ancestor that we share with our closest ...