A Fresh Hell (Chicken)
A newly identified “Hell chicken” species suggests dinosaurs weren’t sliding toward extinction before the fateful asteroid hit.
Humans As Drivers of Evolution
“Anthropogenic,” meaning of human causes, is generally used to refer to climate change. But it also covers the powerful evolutionary force that is humanity.
Ali: Alfred Russel Wallace’s Right-Hand Gun
Wallace wouldn't have become a famous naturalist without help from colonial networks and hundreds of locals, including his indefatigable Sarawak servant, Ali.
The “Scientific” Antifeminists of Victorian England
Nineteenth-century biologists employed some outrageous arguments in order to keep women confined to the home.
The Bizarre Theories of the American School of Evolution
The paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope condemned women's suffrage and Black Americans through an evolutionary lens.
Your Brain Evolved to Hoard Supplies and Shame Others for Doing the Same
Have people gone mad? How can one individual be overfilling their own cart, while shaming others who are doing the same?
Who Was Alexander von Humboldt?
Remembering the work of the great naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, on the 250th anniversary of his birth.
An Early Review of On the Origin of Species
"Darwin openly and almost scornfully repudiates the whole doctrine of Final Causes. He finds no indication of design or purpose anywhere..."
The Incredible Phasmid Egg
Stick insects have eggs that look exactly like seeds. Scientists can't figure out why these masters of camouflage would lay eggs that resemble bird snacks.
Charles Darwin In His Own Words
Some collected letters and observations from the great naturalist, Charles Darwin.