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elephants holding instruments

Most animals can’t keep a beat despite what Darwin believed

3 April 2019

Humans turn out to have the strongest sense of rhythm of all animals, says a new book, which makes strong evolutionary connections between music and language


chimp

A chimp's hug shows it's time to accept that animals have feelings too

3 April 2019

In Mama’s Last Hug, primatologist Frans de Waal argues that we can no longer deny that animals have feelings and we need to look closely at their inner lives


arrows

It's not an illusion, you have free will. It's just not what you think

3 April 2019

The idea that free will doesn't exist is based on misguided intuitions of what it means to be a biological machine, as a famous insect, the digger wasp, reveals


satellite ocean scene

Gaia rebooted: New version of idea explains how Earth evolved for life

20 March 2019

The controversial Gaia hypothesis sees Earth as a superorganism adapted to be perfect for life. A weird type of evolution may finally show how that actually happens


Human or hybrid? The big debate over what a species really is

Human or hybrid? The big debate over what a species really is

23 January 2019

Humans once mated with Neanderthals so are we hybrids? How we see ourselves and the rest of nature is changing, raising the question of whether species even exist


marine iguana

Lost 'Darwinia' islands could be origin of species in the Galapagos

25 December 2018

Millions of years before the Galapagos existed, another island chain may have shaped the evolution of the unusual wildlife that later inspired Charles Darwin


puppeteers

The Wider Earth review – Darwin's Beagle days make a gripping play

7 November 2018

An unusual venue stages an intriguing play about Darwin's Beagle days as London's Natural History Museum turns theatrical–with superb puppets as exotic wildlife


twins

Review: The Tangled Tree and Lamarck's Revenge are genetic misfits

24 October 2018

Two new books make big claims, but prove only that reports of the death of Darwinism have been greatly exaggerated


Don't miss pic

Don't miss: Darwinian premiere, what's really real and sun science

26 September 2018

London's Natural History museum gets a new theatre, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe gets a book and the biggest exhibition about our star


The epic hunt for the place on Earth where life started

The epic hunt for the place on Earth where life started

13 June 2018

Darwin's warm little pond, the deep ocean and icy shores – all have been suggested as the birthplace of life. Now one location could have it all


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