What makes the human brain different from that of other primates has long been a question. A new study suggests that the answer may be in a surprising twist of evolutionary fate: one of the brain’s ...

Longer thumbs mean bigger brains, scientists have found—revealing how human hands and minds evolved together. Researchers studied 94 different primate species, including fossils and living animals, to ...

What unique processes conspire to create a healthy, functional human brain? How can we be so genetically similar to, say, chimpanzees, and yet be light-years more sophisticated cognitively and ...

A new study from Northwestern University is reshaping how scientists think about brain evolution. The research suggests that the gut microbiome does more than aid digestion. It may also influence how ...

Neuroscience research has uncovered fascinating insights into how our brains evolve across different life stages. From the explosive learning of childhood to the surprising strengths of aging, each ...

A fossil smaller than a human fingernail has revealed a complete ancient brain, turning a speck of stone into a detailed map of early animal evolution. Encased inside this tiny creature are preserved ...

The placenta and the hormones it produces may have played a crucial role in the evolution of the human brain, while also leading to the behavioral traits that have made human societies able to thrive ...

Flight is a rare skill in the animal world. Among vertebrates, it evolved only three times: in bats, birds, and the long-extinct pterosaurs. Pterosaurs were the pioneers, taking to the skies more than ...

Human evolution has long been tied to growing brain size, and new research suggests prenatal hormones may have played a surprising role. By studying the relative lengths of index and ring fingers — a ...