As early humans spread from lush African forests into grasslands, their need for ready sources of energy led them to develop a taste for grassy plants, especially grains and the starchy plant tissue ...

From epic poetry to game shows, from Stone Age axes to spaceflight, humans have the most complex cultures of any species on Earth. Since the time of Darwin, scientists have suspected that this culture ...

A timeless question has always fascinated scientists who study the past. Which comes first, the new behavior or the physical tool that perfects it? Do you change how you live and then evolve the body ...

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 discovered that autism’s prevalence may be linked to human brain evolution. Specific neurons in the outer brain evolved rapidly, and autism-linked genes changed under natural selection.

Human evolution is a long and winding tale that goes back millions of years, but one aspect of our anatomy shaped up quickly compared to other mammals: our large brains and flat faces. As these ...