This has been quite the wild year in human evolution stories. Our relatives, living and extinct, got a lot of attention—from new developments in ape cognition to an expanded perspective of a big-toothed hominin cousin.

Human evolution’s biggest mystery, which emerged 15 years ago from a 60,000-year-old pinkie finger bone, finally started to unravel in 2025.

Scientists have reconstructed the head of an ancient human relative from 1.5 million year-old fossilized bones and teeth. But the face staring back is complicating scientists' understanding of early human evolution and dispersal, according to a new study.

Researchers have successfully reconstructed the ancient genomes of Human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B (HHV-6A/B) from human remains that are over two thousand years old.

Synaptic plasticity allows brains to learn, adapt, and rewire. It’s foundational to memory, problem-solving, and complex behavior. Those same pathways stayed quieter in mice colonized with microbes from smaller-brained primates. Then came the surprise.

Modern humans did not evolve from monkeys or any other animal that lives today. Humans continue to evolve but the traits we pass down aren't always for the species' betterment. "Survival of the fittest" probably doesn't mean what you think and has nothing ...

The human body is a machine whose many parts – from the microscopic details of our cells to our limbs, eyes, liver and brain – have been assembled in fits and starts over the four billion years of our history. But scientists are still puzzling over why ...