The most controversial feature of the New Zealand flora is the plethora of small-leaved trees and shrubs with wiry interlaced branches. Can a synthesis of competing explanations solve this mystery?
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Evolution
Displaying 161 - 180 of 995 articles
A vast array of species, including people, use slime for a variety of essential bodily functions. Studying the genetic ancestry of slime surprisingly showcases the role of repetitive DNA in evolution.
The pickle-obsessed can now order a pickle pizza with a side of pickle potato chips, wash it down with a pickle beer and have pickle ice cream for dessert.
New research shows our oldest ancestors were able to walk as well as evolve in trees.
A new theory linking metabolism and size shows how evolution, not physics, is the driving force behind many of life’s patterns.
A language scientist explains that talking was never invented but has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years.
Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis suggested that Earth could be considered a single, self-regulating organism.
The discovery of a fossil over 500 million years old reveals new information. Its brain and nervous system are remarkably preserved, filling in some gaps in what we know about arthropod evolution.
The first hammerhead shark was likely the result of a genetic deformity. A biologist explains how shark DNA reveals hammerheads’ history.
Warm-bloodedness is the key to what makes mammals what they are today. That’s why working out when it emerged in mammal ancestors matters.
The newly discovered species – Qikiqtania – highlights evolution’s twisty, tangled path.
A biologist explains how researchers nail down the age of ancient fossils thanks to a physical process called radioactive decay.
The discovery shakes up what scientists thought they knew about salamander evolution.
DNA analysis is beginning to reveal how wrong the long-accepted evolutionary tree is.
The Black Death evolved around Kyrgyzstan, according to new research.
As the oceans warmed, great whites were more adaptable.
Few animals have babies without sex, so biologists assumed asexual reproduction must have evolutionary drawbacks. But a self-cloning Australian grasshopper shows things might be more complicated.
Evolution by natural selection is a potent agent of change, allowing species to adapt to new and changing environments. But is it sustainable?
Human brains seem to be wired differently to those of chimps or macaques.
A long-term study of wild animal populations shows each generation is on average almost 20% genetically ‘better’ than their parents at surviving and reproducing.
Top contributors
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Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology; Academic Lead of UNSW's Grand Challenges Program, UNSW Sydney
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Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of Bath
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Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath
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Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Monash University
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Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Adjunct Research Associate, Monash University
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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Principal Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent University
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Mark Elgar is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Natural Sciences, UCL
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Senior lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, University of Bristol
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Evolutionary Ecology, Griffith University
