Latest about Human Evolution
Our ancient primate ancestors mostly had twins — humans don't, for a good evolutionary reason
Twins are pretty rare, accounting for just 3% of births in the U.S. these days. But new research shows that for primates 60 million years ago, giving birth to twins was the norm.
Early human ancestor 'Lucy' was a bad runner, and this one tendon could explain why
By digitally modeling muscles and tendons for the skeleton of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis), researchers determined that our hominin ancestors could run well but topped out around 11 mph.
10 fascinating discoveries about Neanderthals in 2024, from 'Thorin' the last Neanderthal to an ancient glue factory
This year, we learned that our Neanderthal cousins were a lot like us, despite treading their own path that ended in extinction.
Modern human ancestors and Neanderthals mated during a 7,000-year-long 'pulse,' 2 new studies reveal
An analysis of genomes from some of the earliest modern humans to live in Europe reveals their ancestors interbred with Neanderthals in one period between 43,000 and 50,000 years ago.
Are Neanderthals and Homo sapiens the same species?
Scientists have been vollying the question back and forth for more than a century.
New, big-headed archaic humans discovered: Who is Homo juluensis?
Researchers have named a new species in the Homo genus. What do we know about these "big headed" people?
1.5 million-year-old footprints reveal our Homo erectus ancestors lived with a 2nd proto-human species
A set of footprints found at the site of Koobi Fora in Kenya reveals that our ancestor Homo erectus coexisted with a now-extinct bipedal hominin, Paranthropus boisei, 1.5 million years ago.
From 'Lucy' to the 'Hobbits': The most famous fossils of human relatives
Countdown Lucy may be the best-known prehuman fossil in the world. But other famous fossils have given us important insight into our evolutionary history.
