Evolutionary Theory

The Urgency of Agency

Our consciousness gets in the way of thinking about evolution.

Life, Unbounded, Scientific American

The Secret History of Science and Religion: On the Origin of Humans

Nick Spencer examines the history of science and religion and questions the extent to which they have been in conflict with one another.

BBC Radio 4

Wings May All Be Universal. Smarts, Not So Much

Many astrobiologists believe life gets going easily on Earthlike planets and so will be widespread in the universe. It is then possible that some of those planets might have evolved intelligent beings.

Cosmos

Gifted Education, Hope, Male Incompetence, and Contextual Evolution

The Psychology Podcast recap for May 2019.

Beautiful Minds, Scientific American

In Ecology Studies and Selfless Ants, He Finds Hope for the Future

For more than six decades, the influential biologist Edward O. Wilson has drawn connections between evolution, ecology, and behavior, often sparking controversies inside and outside of science.

Quanta Magazine

How Evolutionary Theory Guides Policy

A review of David Sloan Wilson’s new book, This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution.

Nature

How Highly Religious Americans View Evolution Depends on How They’re Asked About It

The shares of white evangelical Protestants and black Protestants who say humans have evolved depend on how the question is asked.

Pew Research Center

How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution

The extravagant splendor of the animal kingdom can’t be explained by natural selection alone — so how did it come to be?

The New York Times Magazine

Proof of Life: How Would We Recognize an Alien If We Saw One?

What exactly is it that astrobiologists are looking for? How will we know when it’s time to pop the champagne?

Aeon

Evolutionary Math and Just-So Stories

Evolutionary stories like the grandmother hypothesis are easy to construct from mathematical models, but how well do they reflect reality?

Quanta Magazine

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

Why Social Science Needs Evolutionary Theory

The lack of willingness to view human cognition and behavior as within the purview of evolutionary processes has prevented evolution from being fully integrated into the social science curriculum.

Nautilus

Humans Evolved But Are Still Special

Steve Mirsky spoke to Ken Miller, a professor of biology at Brown University and the author, most recently, of The Human Instinct.

Science Talk, Scientific American

The Human Instinct: A Conversation with Ken Miller

Too many people think evolution demeans our species. But maybe evolutionary theory indicates the opposite: our special place among life on Earth.

Behavioral Scientist

Speaking of Evolution, in Non-Threatening Tones

For two years, researchers from the Smithsonian traveled the country to discuss — calmly — the science of human evolution. Here’s why.

Undark

The Elusive Calculus of Insects’ Altruism and Kin Selection

How the ultra-cooperative behavior of ants, bees, and other social insects could have evolved continues to challenge formal analysis. But a new theory that includes hedging bets against nature’s unpredictability may help to change the math and shift the debate.

Quanta Magazine

The Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism

Alvin Plantinga believes it is a mistake to accept both naturalism and evolution together.

Center for Philosophy of Religion

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

Doubts About Evolution Widespread Even Amongst Non-Religious People

The definition and origin of consciousness is a subject of heated scientific debate, so it is therefore unsurprising that this has also emerged as the biggest area of public concern over the powers of evolutionary principles to fully answer questions about our origins, our identity, and our place on this planet and in this cosmos.

British Science Association

Will AI Enable the Third Stage of Life on Earth?

In an excerpt from his new book, an MIT physicist explores the next stage of human evolution.

Scientific American

Finding the Actions That Alter Evolution

The biologist Marcus Feldman creates mathematical models that reveal how cultural traditions can affect the evolution of a species.

Quanta Magazine