Evolution

Science communicator Hank Green explains how our species’ unique intelligence got us into this climate mess—and how it will help us solve it

The Haenyeo, an all-female group of divers on South Korea’s Jeju Island, spend much of their lives underwater without equipment—a “superpower” that may be written into their DNA

Reducing the copies of one gene in the bubonic plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, made it less deadly but potentially more transmissible

Mounting evidence from genome studies indicates that, contrary to received wisdom, our species has undergone profound biological adaptation in its recent evolutionary past

Kosmos-482 crash-lands, physicists turn lead to gold and animals show some clever behaviors.

Pugs, Persian cats, and other smushed-face cats and dogs are more similar to one another than they are to the wild animals they evolved from

As 17-year cicadas emerge this spring, a zombifying fungus is waiting for them

A genetic analysis reveals that Fiji’s iguanas are most closely related to lizards living in North America’s deserts. How is this possible?

Charged water droplets generate sparks that can forge organic compounds

The Internet’s vast cat resources help researchers chart cat eye evolution

A century after the Scopes trial, hopeful prospects beckon for teaching the unifying principle of the biological sciences in the U.S.’s classrooms

The genes that build the cartilage of fish gills were repurposed to build the cartilage in mammals’ outer ears