
Stone tools hint that our first human ancestors lived all over Africa
29 November 2018
We thought the first Homo species evolved in East Africa 2.8 million years ago, but stone tools from Algeria suggest our origins may have spanned the continent

29 November 2018
We thought the first Homo species evolved in East Africa 2.8 million years ago, but stone tools from Algeria suggest our origins may have spanned the continent

24 May 2018
Some chimpanzee populations gained useful DNA from interbreeding with bonobos, and one may even have become more gentle and “bonobo-like” in its brain structure and behaviour

23 May 2018
Many scientists think that our big brains evolved to help us cope with the complexities of social living, but a model suggests it was more to do with finding food and lighting fires

18 May 2018
When female bonobos went into labour, other females gathered around to keep them safe, swatting away flies and even seemingly trying to catch the baby as it emerged

11 May 2018
Many of us carry DNA inherited from Neanderthals, but we can’t be sure how it affects us. Stem cells with Neanderthal DNA could tell us

25 April 2018
The idea that all humans evolved from a small population in East Africa turns out to be wrong. Our beginnings were far stranger and more colourful

26 March 2018
Our extinct cousins the Neanderthals seem to have targeted cave bears, which were normally intimidating foes, while they were sleepy and weak from hibernating through the winter

15 March 2018
The genes of extinct hominins called Denisovans live on in people from China and Papua New Guinea, suggesting two instances of cross-species breeding

5 February 2018
Wooden tools are hardly ever preserved, but a cache found in Italy suggests Neanderthals made them with fire and used them to dig up foods like tubers