New research suggests that natural selection, famous for rewarding advantageous differences in organisms, can also preserve similarities. The researchers worked with a plant called wild radish and its ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

A new study reveals the surprisingly convergent evolution in the inner ear of mammals. An international research team led by Nicole Grunstra from the University of Vienna and Anne Le Maître from the ...

A strange tiny species of crustacean has challenged the way we think about natural selection and evolution. This microscopic animal, known as a water flea or Daphnia pulex, generates genetic variation ...

Most of us know that as living things evolve, they take on traits that help them thrive in their home environments. But how are certain traits "chosen" for future generations, and how are others cast ...

Long before DNA unraveled the double helix of life, scientists were already tinkering with its inheritance. The idea that traits could be passed from one generation to the next fascinated early ...

The Indigenous peoples of the Bolivian highlands are survivors. For thousands of years they have lived at altitudes of more than two miles, where oxygen is about 35 percent lower than at sea level.

Brown rats in New York City may be evolving smaller rows of teeth. Tiny fish across the Eastern US have adapted to thrive in polluted urban waters. Around the globe, living things are evolving ...

What we eat doesn’t just affect our bodies — it also shapes the evolution of the trillions of microbes living inside us. A ...