They sense electric fields, tolerate snow and have ‘mating trains’: 4 reasons echidnas really are remarkable
Echidnas are even more mysterious and unusual than commonly assumed.
The Anthropocene is a nuclear epoch – so how can we survive it?
This year saw nuclear weapons tested, stockpiles renewed, and disasters remembered
Semantics of Anthropocene: Have humans really formed a new era
The Earth will hardly notice when we humans are gone, just as it hardly knew we were here
New study adds to calls for formal recognition of Himalayan wolf
The research, conducted by British and Nepalese researchers, confirms that the proposed Himalayan wolf is an ancient wolf lineage, has developed …
Giant sea lizards: Fossils in Morocco reveal astounding diversity of marine life 66 mn years ago
Far from declining at the end of the Cretaceous, marine reptiles — especially mosasaurs — evolved to become increasingly diverse
It’s reassuring to think humans are evolution’s ultimate destination – but research shows we may be an accident
Modern biologists agree most complex organisms have become more complex over the last 4 billion years, disagree over the process that accounts …
What would happen if humans had flat feet?
The transversal arch, absent in modern-day gorillas and chimpanzees, developed in humans around 3.4 million year ago
Galapagos giant tortoises make a comeback, thanks to innovative conservation strategies
The Galapagos Islands' giant tortoises are one of the world's best examples of evolution. Scientists are pioneering new conservation strategies …
Greenland fossil find may force rethink on origin of life
Discovered four years ago, the finds were not publicised at that time as geologists led by Allen P Nutman of the University of Wollongong in …
Making sex count
In the annals of modern medicine, medical research experiments have always been sexist. The tide is finally turning
Sunscreen or camouflage? Why so many animals have dark backs and pale bellies
It is one of the most controversial questions in nature. Now a group of British researchers have shed light on the answer
It’s a myth that male animals are usually larger than females — new study
Male-biased size dimorphism was found in only 28% of 429 mammal species examined
Neanderthals died out 40,000 years ago, but there has never been more of their DNA on Earth
Many Europeans and Asians have between 1% and 4% Neanderthal DNA while African people south of the Sahara have almost zero
When did humans first go to war?
Although the first modern Europeans may have been the first humans capable of organised warfare, we can’t say this behaviour was …
Thick ones, pointy ones – how albatross beaks evolved to match their prey
Beak size, shape varied between albatross species, making it a useful tool for identifying species that otherwise look similar
Did life evolve more than once? Researchers are closing in on an answer
Has all of life on Earth evolved only once, or are different living beings cut from different cloths?
Following Alfred Russel Wallace’s footsteps to Borneo, where he penned his pioneering evolution paper
Wallace, born 200 years ago on January 8, wrote the Sarawak Law paper in a remote jungle far from anyone and anything back in 1855
Climate change effect: Northern climes no longer safe haven for migratory animals
The population of migratory species declines as moving to the north proves to be less beneficial and potentially dangerous
How did elephants evolve such a large brain? Climate change is part of the answer
The evolutionary history of elephants is interesting. It parallels humans’ in many ways
From Neptune's blue hue to Jupiter's red spot: are the colours of the planets real?
Many images of planets have been manipulated. So have we seen their true colours? Not always, it turns out.
Mammalian threads
A treatise on how science came to grasp evolution in mammals
Even platypuses aren’t safe from bushfires — a new DNA study tracks their disappearance
Platypuses are disappearing from waterways after fire
Simply Put: Evolving backwards
‘Humans won’t go extinct; but they are at a crucial point’
Down to Earth spoke with Nathan H Lents, professor of biology at John Jay College, the City University of New York about the past, present and …
Astronomers find extremely aged remnant of galaxies that influence universe’s evolution
A team of Indian astronomers from Pune claimed the remnants belonged to galaxies formed 260 million years ago, a record in itself