Science & the Big Questions

A Biologist Explores a Big Question in Evolution: Does It Happen the Same Way Each Time?

Replaying the tape of life.

The Verge

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms

After Last Year’s Hurricanes, Caribbean Lizards Are Better at Holding on for Dear Life

A stunning case of natural selection in action.

The Atlantic

Topics: Animal Studies Evolutionary Mechanisms

Mathematics Shows How to Ensure Evolution

New results emerging from graph theory prove that the way a population is organized can guarantee the eventual triumph of natural selection — or permanently thwart it.

Quanta Magazine

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms Evolutionary Theory Martin Nowak

Discovery of a Surprise Multitasking Gene Helps Explain How New Functions and Features Evolve

A core idea in molecular biology is that one gene codes for one protein. Now biologists have found an example of a gene that yields two forms of a protein — enabling it to evolve new functionality.

The Conversation

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms

Would Standing on the First Butterfly Really Change the History of Evolution?

More and more evidence shows evolution isn't as random as often thought.

The Conversation

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms

At an Underground Harvard Lizard Colony, Scientists Study Speciation

Several hundred brown anoles are helping researchers discover how new species come to be.

Atlas Obscura

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms

When Evolution Is Not a Slow Dance But a Fast Race to Survive

On the local level, adaptation and natural selection are always at work, adapting us to combat whatever threats — new diseases, climate change, new social selection processes — are now, often invisibly, at hand.

Aeon

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms Evolutionary Theory

Why Hasn’t Evolution Made Another Platypus?

The debate over whether evolution is predictable or haphazard.

Nautilus

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms

Massive Genetic Study Shows How Humans Are Evolving

Analysis of 215,000 people’s DNA suggests variants that shorten life are being selected against.

Nature

Topics: Evolutionary Mechanisms Longevity

Inevitable or Accident? Tackling the Big Questions of Evolution

Modern evolutionary science has some advantages Darwin didn’t. Here’s what we’re learning from DNA, experimentation, and more.