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Evolutionary Biology
11mins
“Forget about essences.” Philosopher Daniel Dennett on how modern-day philosophers should be more collaborative with scientists if they want to make revolutionary developments in their fields.
Aliens are often portrayed in popular culture as humanoid. But in reality, intelligent extraterrestrials might take far stranger forms.
Despite billions of years of life on Earth, humans first arose only ~300,000 years ago. It took all that time to make our arrival possible.
Although mammals may be the dominant form of life today, we're relative newcomers on planet Earth. Here's our place in natural history.
For billions of years on Earth, life was limited to simple unicellular, non-differentiated organisms. In a mere flash, that changed forever.
Known as the Great Oxygenation Event, Earth froze over as oxygen accumulated in our atmosphere, nearly driving all life extinct.
CRISPR study helps answer a question that has long puzzled scientists.
No matter how you define the end, including the demise of humanity, all life, or even the planet itself, our ultimate destruction awaits.
In a recent paper, biologists outlined a three-part hypothesis for how all life as we know it began.
After listening to the same playlist, people from the United Kingdom, the United States, and China reported feeling nearly identical bodily sensations.
In the early stages of our Solar System, there were three life-friendly planets: Venus, Earth, and Mars. Only Earth thrived. Here's why.
We don’t yet know if these strange “obelisks” are helpful or harmful.
The discovery suggests that the "Boring Billion" period of evolution on Earth wasn't so boring after all.
Although early Earth was a molten hellscape, once it cooled, life arose almost immediately. That original chain of life remains unbroken.
The answer is set to change in the year 2113, a recent estimate suggests.
The pattern 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc., is the Fibonacci sequence. It shows up all over nature. But what's the full explanation behind it?
Two scientists recently wagered a bottle of whiskey. The bet? Whether we'll find evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life in the next 15 years.
Life became a possibility in the Universe as soon as the raw ingredients were present. But living, inhabited worlds required a bit more.
Our cosmic home, planet Earth, has been through a lot over the past 4.5 billion years. Here are some of its most spectacular changes
Fire was crucial to the evolution of human technology. That's why alien species stuck in the "oxygen bottleneck" may be forever primitive.
Researchers are finding signs of multiple phases of sleep all over the animal kingdom. The ‘active’ sleep phases look very much like REM.
Earth wasn't created until more than 9 billion years after the Big Bang. In some lucky places, life could have arisen almost right away.
A volley of new insights reignites the debate over whether our choices are ever truly our own.
Looking back on our planet's early history offers a new (and less crazy) meaning for the idea of a "flat Earth."
Without even realizing it, we’ve actually become pretty god-like in our powers.
Lab experiments showed Caribbean box jellyfish are quick studies of their environment.
These nematodes complicate how we understand evolutionary lineages.
The problem with carnivores turned omnivores.
42mins
The Santa Fe Institute is a cradle of modern research. Our host Kmele meets some of the brilliant minds who work there.