Evolution, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2013

Exaptation: How Evolution Uses What's Available

Exaptation is a term used in evolutionary biology to describe a trait that has been co-opted for a use other than the one for which natural selection has built it. It is a relatively new term, proposed by Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba in 1982 to make the point...

Apr 30, 2013

Macho Men May Not Have Survival Advantage in War

Despite a known link between a masculine-looking face and aggression in men, macho-faced soldiers didn't survive Finland's World War II Winter War in greater numbers than recruits with less masculine faces. The macho-looking men did, however, have more children in their lifetimes than thinner-faced guys, suggesting that face shape is...

Apr 30, 2013

Study: Stress Isn't Hot

Stress makes its mark on the female face, according to a new study that finds men judge women with high levels of a stress hormone less attractive. The finding is a gender turnaround on previous research that has found that women go for low-stress guys, too. Stress can suppress fertility,...

Jun 30, 2014

'Family That Walks on All Fours' Not Evolutionary Throwbacks

When Turkish evolutionary biologist Uner Tan introduced the world to a Turkish family with some members who could walk only on all fours, in a bear crawl, he and other scientists speculated this odd gait was the resurgence of a trait lost during human evolution. Not so, a new study...

May 31, 2014

Human Ancestors Got Herpes from Chimps

A herpes virus that infects humans originated in chimpanzees before it jumped into early human ancestors, according to a new study. Researchers found that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infected hominids before their evolutionary split from chimpanzees 6 million years ago, whereas herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2) was transferred from ancient...

Apr 30, 2014

How Corkscrew Vaginas and Female Penises Evolved

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A male ruddy duck with a sky-blue beak coasted across a pond here at the Prospect Park Zoo, brightening a rudely cold spring day. There's a very nice sexually selected bill color, Dutch biologist Menno Schilthuizen said, poking his head over the wooden-post fence. At some point...

Sep 30, 2015

This Pig-Nosed Rat with Vampire Teeth Will Haunt Your Dreams

It has a nose like a cute little piglet's, ears that only a mother could love and teeth that would make Dracula run in fear: This odd-looking rodent captured researchers' attention when they discovered it back in 2013, but now they've described it as a new species. The elusive animal,...

Feb 28, 2017

What Your Nose Knows About Human Evolution

They can be bulbous, pert or pointy, but why do noses look so different from one another? It could have something to do with how humans evolved to live in certain climates, a new study suggests. In the study, the researchers found that wider noses are more commonly found among...

Dec 8, 2015

What Is a Human? Long-Standing Debate Surrounds Our Family Tree

Several ancient human species and relatives have been unearthed in bits and pieces over the years, including one with an orange-size brain, another dubbed the hobbit for its miniature size and a flat-faced hominin with a huge brow ridge. Although these finds have opened more windows into the evolutionary landscape...

Dec 15, 2015

Why Humans Have Slender Faces and Neanderthals Don't

Neanderthals had protruding facial features because of the way their bodies deposited and dealt with bone, a new study finds. In Neanderthals, facial bone deposits continue into the teenage years, whereas in humans (Homo sapiens), bone removal during childhood leads to a flatter face, the researchers found. Neanderthals, the closest...

Jan 13, 2016

Mysterious 'Hobbit' Relative May Have Lived on Isolated Island

A mysterious relative of the extinct human species nicknamed the hobbit may have once lived on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, new research suggests. This finding could one day help shed light on the evolution of the hobbit, the researchers noted in the study. In 2003, scientists unearthed 18,000-year-old fossils...

Jan 29, 2016

Nice Guys Win: Women Choose Altruism Over Looks

Forget the expression nice guys finish last. A new study finds that men who are concerned for the well-being of others in place of themselves may have a better shot with women compared to men who are just good-looking. Researchers found that women reported men as being more attractive when...

Feb 11, 2016

Neanderthal-Human Trysts May Be Linked to Modern Depression, Heart Disease

Ancient trysts between Neanderthals and modern humans may have influenced modern risks for depression, heart attacks, nicotine addiction, obesity and other health problems, researchers said. The Neanderthals were once the closest relatives of modern humans. Scientists recently discovered that Neanderthals and modern humans once interbred; nowadays, about 1.5 to 2.1...

Feb 17, 2016

Fertile Crescent? Neanderthals & Humans Likely Bred in the Mideast

Neanderthals and modern humans may have interbred much earlier than thought, with ancient liaisons potentially taking place in the Middle East, researchers say. This finding supports the idea that some modern humans left Africa long before the ancestors of modern Europeans and Asians migrated out of Africa, scientists added. The...

Feb 24, 2016

Food for Thought: Human Teeth Likely Shrank Due to Tool Use

Wisdom teeth may have shrunk during human evolution as part of changes that started with human tool use, according to a new study. The research behind this finding could lead to a new way of figuring out how closely related fossil species are to modern humans, scientists added. Although modern...