Humans started domesticating animals and using their milk around 10,000 years ago, but at that time all humans lacked a … read more

A study published in PLOS Computational Biology reports that menopause is an unintended outcome of natural selection caused by the preference of males for younger female mates. read more

A British engineering team went to Antarctica this October for the first stage of a scientific mission to collect water and sediment samples from a lake buried beneath three kilometres of solid ice, and attempt to uncover clues about the evolution of life on Earth and other planets, and about the Earth’s past climate. read more

Research led by scientists at the University of Edinburgh ran genome-wide association studies looking at the link with human intelligence and found it to be linked with a large number of genetic loci. read more

Ahead of the British Neuroscience Association’s Christmas Symposium, the SMC invited several leading experts into the Centre to brief the media on their respective areas of research, including the evolutionary and neural mechanisms that govern our need for social activity. read more

The SMC hosted this Nature press briefing on the discovery of new fossil evidence regarding early humans settling in Norfolk. read more

The poll of primary and secondary school teachers found that nearly half disagree with the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in science lessons in England and Wales, rising to two out of three among teachers who specialise in science. read more

Prof Reiss resigned following the controversy generated over his comments regarding the status of creationism in the school science curriculum. read more

Prof Michael Reiss, Director of Education at the Royal Society, today debated creationism’s place in the science curriculum at the BA Festival. Leading scientists offered their thoughts on the issue. read more

Fossils of a 375 million year old new species of ancient fish, named Tiktaalik roseae, found north of the Arctic Circle, fill an evolutionary gap in the transition between water and land animals. read more

Revolutionary dating techniques have suggested that a collection of stone tools from East Anglia show human activity in Northern Europe 200,000 years earlier than scientists previously thought. With results published in ‘Nature’ this week, researchers explain how this challenges the current understanding of how humans moved from Southern Europe to colonise areas of Northern Europe including the UK. read more

Professor Chris Stringer, hominid researcher, Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, said: “On the chimp fossil find – this shows … read more

Responses to the discovery of a tiny species of ancient human hailed as one of the most sensational finds of its type in decades. read more

The remains of a tiny species of ancient human have been discovered on an island in Indonesia, a find hailed as one of the most sensational of its type in decades. read more