Human evolution: Facts, news, features and articles about the past 300,000 years of Homo sapiens

Homo naledi, an extinct human relative with one-third the brain size of ours, buried and may have memorialized their dead, controversial research suggests.

A novel genetic model suggests that the ancestors of modern humans came from two distinct populations that split and reconnected during our evolutionary history.

A newly excavated cave in Israel holds burials and artifacts suggesting that multiple human species commingled and shared ideas there during the Paleolithic.

A new study charts the genetics of skin, hair and eye color in Europe over 45,000 years.

Unique versions of the lactase gene found in the genomes of East Asian people may have increased in prevalence within the population over time because they bolstered immune responses against pathogens, new data reveal.

Researchers used a novel method of radiocarbon dating to figure out the age of the Lapedo child, who had both Neanderthal and human traits.

The discovery of 1.5 million-year-old bone tools upends what we know about tool manufacturing in East Africa.

A study of the inner ear bones of Neanderthals shows a significant loss of diversity in their shape around 110,000 years ago, suggesting a genetic bottleneck that contributed to Neanderthals' decline.

A specific gene variant seen in people is likely one of many that contributed to the development of language in modern humans, scientists say. And it changes how mice squeak.

The newfound species belongs to the genus Paranthropus, whose nickname is "nutcracker man."