Frances Arnold's game-changing technique of "directed evolution" creates enzymes with unusual capabilities. Her own evolution made it possible.

Evolutionary theory has revolutionized the way we understand humans – yet more than a century after Darwin's ideas reshaped biology, the female form of our species remains largely a mystery.

In Lake Malawi, hundreds of species of cichlid fish have evolved with astonishing speed, offering scientists a rare opportunity to study how biodiversity arises.

Evolution is perhaps the most extraordinary story ever told—a tale spanning billions of years that connects every living thing on Earth through an intricate ...

A nearly complete dinosaur skeleton discovered in Patagonia is helping scientists crack the mystery of alvarezsaurs, a bizarre group of bird-like dinosaurs. The fossil of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis ...

Most people know only two things about the appendix: You don’t need it – and if it bursts, you need surgery fast. That basic story traces back at least to Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who ...

All complex biological systems—like the DNA, RNA and proteins constantly being copied and built within our cells—are prone to errors. That means as life evolved to be more elaborate, it also had to ...

Paleobiologist Geerat Vermeij is enthralled with mollusks. Their shells line the surfaces and fill the cabinets and drawers in his office on the second floor of the Earth and Planetary Sciences ...

When gazing at the vast spectrum of the animal kingdom, it is easy to focus on the similarities we share with other creatures. From the basic structure of our skeletons to the complex workings of our ...

Based on these details, its closest evolutionary relatives, and its river habitat, the study’s authors believe Tanyka likely resembled a three-foot-long salamander sporting a lengthier snout. But at ...

What is the relationship between scientific knowledge and belief in evolution? I have recently been reviewing data that explores this issue and am sharing what I found. There clearly are some ...