12 July 2023
A handful of “rules” govern how evolution shapes life on Earth, from island gigantism to colours shifting with latitude – and offer clues about how animals and plants might adapt to a warming world
18 April 2023
Researchers are finally getting to grips with how children's brains pick up reading. Now the challenge is to apply this to the classroom to help kids reach their potential in literacy
14 December 2022
The land of Punt, a mysterious place where ancient Egyptians bought gold, incense and other luxury items, has been located using DNA from mummified baboons
3 October 2022
Archaeologists once viewed ancient Nubia as separate from and inferior to Egypt. But research is now showing the Nubians had their own rich culture that powerfully influenced the land of the pharaohs
27 September 2022
Cognitive archaeologist Rebecca Wragg Sykes says we can learn something about the minds of Neanderthals by studying the stuff they left behind, from painted shells to stalagmite circles. We might even find hints about why they went extinct
31 August 2022
The search for the direct ancestor of humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans has been protracted and puzzling. Now, fresh clues are adding a surprising twist to the tale
24 June 2022
An effort to track global changes in human society over the past 10,000 years concludes that warfare drove an increase in social complexity – but others are unconvinced by the work
6 April 2022
A new wave of archaeological investigations is reconstructing intimate details of our ancestors' lives from fossilised footprints. They give us glimpses of everything from parent-child relationships to the thrill of a giant sloth hunt
11 January 2022
The characters used to write the Vai script, which was invented in Liberia in 1833, have become visually simpler over time, reflecting the evolutionary pressures acting on writing
10 January 2022
The ancient Egyptians were adept at bandaging dead bodies during the mummification process, but we have had no evidence of the way they dressed flesh wounds until now
