For more than half a century, many biologists have leaned on the neutral theory of molecular evolution to explain how DNA and proteins change over time. The idea grew from early work in the 1960s, ...

For a long time, evolutionary biologists have thought that the genetic mutations that drive the evolution of genes and proteins are largely neutral: they're neither good nor bad, but just ordinary ...

The discovery of Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old skeleton, changed our theory of human evolution forever. The discovery is celebrating its 50-year anniversary, and continues to capture human imagination.

We share the planet with a huge diversity of plants and creatures. But we can see similarities between organisms that live continents apart or are very different in other aspects. One reason for this ...

See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The story of how us humans—and other mammals—got our noses may have ...