Scientists have been monitoring the development of a new evolutionary change in humans. More people are being born with an “extra” artery running down their forearms. The change is likely to be present in most humans by 2100. As much as we’d like to believe that we’re the end-all, be-all of the natural process of …
A species of flightless bird went extinct over 130,000 years ago but then appeared again after evolution gave it a second chance. The birds evolved independently, thousands of years apart, but did so on the exact same island. When species evolve twice it’s known as “iterative evolution.” Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories. When an …
It’s been millions of years since dinosaurs walked the Earth, but they left plenty of remains behind for us to find. Paleontologists can learn a lot about what dinosaurs looked like and even their respective places on the food chain based on their bones, but figuring out how the bodies of these ancient beasts functioned …
We humans tend to take our ability to chew and swallow for granted, but as mammals we actually have a pretty complicated system of bones and muscles helping us tackle our pizza slices and steaks. Determining when mammals developed their unique style of eating has been a topic of discussion among scientists for some time, …
Modern crocodiles have a reputation as ravenous beasts that crave flesh. While it’s certainly true that crocodiles today are more than happy to feast on fresh meat, it seems that some ancient crocs not only enjoyed leafy greens on a regular basis, but may have actually preferred a vegetarian diet. The research, which was published …
For scientists studying the history of human evolution, determining when certain changes happened and what may have prompted those changes are very important questions to answer. It’s only natural that we wonder where we came from, but there’s only so much that fossils can teach us, and sometimes we have to make big assumptions about …
As humans, if we lose a limb or even a tiny digit like a finger or toe we’re left to live out our lives without that particular appendage. We have no ability to regrow body parts, but many in the animal kingdom do indeed possess that power, and scientists just discovered several worm species that …
The premise of Jurassic Park was that scientists found a way to use dinosaur DNA to bring long-extinct species back from the dead. The reality is must more complicated, of course, but researchers from the University of Kent now say that dinosaur DNA is actually all around us, we just see the animals as part …
If you’re sitting on the internet and reading this story instead of doing something more important that you KNOW you should be doing, I have good news! A new research paper suggests that some animals may benefit greatly from being as lazy as possible, and evolution might reward those individuals by allowing them to pass …
When we look back at the fossilized remains of our human ancestors it’s easy to see the resemblance. The prehistoric peoples that roamed the Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago were similar in body composition to modern humans, but there are some noticeable differences, especially in the skull and face. Thick, pronounced brow ridges …
