James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Most of us know that as living things evolve, they take on traits that help them thrive in their home environments. But how are certain traits "chosen" for future generations, and how are others cast ...

How a collection of London pigeons and Galápagos mockingbirds provided the receipts for Darwin’s biggest ideas.

When most people think about natural selection, they imagine individuals competing with one another: The fastest animal escapes predators, the strongest plant produces more seeds, and the most ...

In natural populations, the mechanisms of evolution do not act in isolation. This is crucially important to conservation geneticists, who grapple with the implications of these evolutionary processes ...

Diseases have the potential to shape human evolution, leaving an indelible mark on the genetic code of generations to come. And that’s exactly what happened in South America, finds a study published ...

Natural selection can reverse evolution that occurs through sexual selection and this can lead to better females, new research shows. Natural selection can reverse evolution that occurs through sexual ...

New research from Michigan State University suggests that natural selection, famous for rewarding advantageous differences in organisms, can also preserve similarities. Reporting in the journals New ...

A strange tiny species of crustacean has challenged the way we think about natural selection and evolution. This microscopic animal, known as a water flea or Daphnia pulex, generates genetic variation ...

The common view of natural selection is based solely on the individual: A trait allows an organism to out-compete its rivals and is thus passed down to its offspring. To suggest otherwise can provoke ...