• Epigenetics and evolution

    Benjamin Oldroyd     |      October 16, 2023

    A new book reveals how a population’s non-genetic responses to environmental change are central to the process of evolution.

  • Dinosaur planet

    Nicholas Longrich     |      November 26, 2022

    Dinosaurs didn’t go extinct because they were obsolete or stupid, but because an asteroid ploughed into Earth. What would life on our planet be like if that catastrophe had never happened?

  • The long war

    Nicholas Longrich     |      November 22, 2020

    Neanderthals and modern humans evolved from a common ancestor, but were engaged in brutal guerrilla-style warfare across the globe for over 100,000 years until the last of their kind were wiped out 40,000 years ago.

  • Happiness is living the way we evolved to live

    Arash Javanbakht     |      January 24, 2019

    Society and technology evolve exponentially faster than the human body and psyche, and remembering the ancient realities which shaped our bodies can help us find greater happiness in the modern world.

  • Rethinking Homo sapiens

    Darren Curnoe     |      July 16, 2018

    For a long time, the evidence has been overwhelming that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and later spilled out of the continent to settle the rest of the planet. But is the story of our origins really as simple as it seems? A new commentary written by UK and German scientists suggests not.

  • How species jumping genes have driven evolution

    Open Forum     |      July 10, 2018

    Far from just being the product of our parents, University of Adelaide scientists have shown that widespread transfer of genes between species has radically changed the genomes of today’s mammals, and been an important driver of evolution.

  • The legacy of a great scientific hoax

    Rohan Long     |      May 18, 2018

    May 18 marks International Museum Day to raise awareness on the importance of museums to social development. The University of Melbourne’s anatomy museum features fossil models from an entirely fictional early human, for example, a forgery that derailed the study of our evolution for decades.