Evolution

A mouse’s brain develops quickly. Human brain development continues through childhood and adolescence, requiri…

Scientific status: Dogs descended from ancient wolf populations and were domesticated before agriculture (esta…

The evidence in brief: Many preindustrial Europeans described a “first sleep” and “second sleep,” separated by…

Handing consequential decisions to something you cannot fully watch is the oldest management problem our speci…

Can frozen childhood tissue produce sperm years later? Yes, in one reported human case. Researchers transplant…

A Presbyterian minister dies in colonial America. His household loses more than a husband or father. It may lo…

Around 4,600 years ago, communities along the Nile turned stone, transport, skilled labor, food, administratio…

People cooperate constantly. We raise children together, share food, build companies, follow rules, defend fri…

How belief becomes identity, leaders become symbols, and outsiders become threats Human beings rarely experien…

An evolutionary reading of the Iran–Israel rivalry, and of why both sides so often see themselves as the victi…

The word adaptation gets used casually. People say humans are “adapted to screens,” “adapted to city life,” or…

These three terms get mixed together constantly: hominid , hominin , and Homo sapiens . They sound similar, an…

The Double-Edged Mind Human intelligence is often celebrated as our species’ defining triumph, the thing that…

Introduction The study of human evolution has traditionally focused on either biological or cultural factors,…

Throughout human history, periods of feast and famine have shaped the evolution of our species. Our ancestors…

Human beings have long sought to understand the factors that shape behavior, social structures, and cultural p…

Human beings are unique among animals in the degree to which our behavior is shaped by culture. We learn from…

Introduction The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming human society at an unprecedented pace.…

A plain-English guide to one of anthropology’s most misused words The word gets thrown around casually, usuall…

A leader stands before a crowd and declares that he is prepared to die for the nation. The statement may expre…

A family shares food widely after an unpredictable hunt but guards stored grain after a reliable harvest. A fa…

A person gives money to a stranger. One explanation points to empathy. Another points to religious instruction…

Why does a hunter give away valuable meat? Why do parents invest differently across children or stages of life…

A dominant animal wins a fight, suffers an infected wound, and produces no surviving offspring. A smaller riva…

A drought arrives. Some plants retain water more efficiently than others. If part of that difference is inheri…

Ask who developed the theory of evolution and most people will answer Charles Darwin. The answer is understand…