A ritual dance honoring Yoruban ancestors is one of the countless examples of human culture. Jorge Fernández/LightRocket via Getty Images Of the 8.7 million species on Earth, why are human beings the ...

Cumulative culture -- the accumulation of technological modifications and improvements over generations -- allowed humans to adapt to a diversity of environments and challenges. But, it is unclear ...

Researchers at the University of Maine are theorizing that human beings may be in the midst of a major evolutionary shift — driven not by genes, but by culture. In a paper published in the Oxford ...

In a recent review published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, researchers discussed the role of climatic shifts and vegetation changes in driving the evolution within the subfamily ...

Central features of human evolution may stop our species from resolving global environmental problems like climate change, says a new study led by the University of Maine. Humans have come to dominate ...

Of the 8.7 million species on Earth, why are human beings the only one that paints self-portraits, walks on the Moon and worships gods? For decades, many scholars have argued that the difference stems ...

Life on Earth began in a way that still boggles the mind. Around 4.5 billion years ago, a chemical process called abiogenesis occurred, where life emerged from non-life. Imagine a hot, watery mix of ...

What led humans on the unique path of cultural development? And can we do anything useful with newly reconstructed histories of this process? Culture is central to defining humanity. Throughout ...

Researchers long thought that the ability to utilize tools or share cultural practices set humans apart. But the animal kingdom has provided plenty of examples to the contrary, whether it be ...

Of the 8.7 million species on Earth, why are human beings the only one that paints self-portraits, walks on the Moon and ...