One hundred years ago, a substitute teacher in Dayton, Tenn., was charged with the crime of teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. His name was John Scopes. At the time, ...

A strange tiny species of crustacean has challenged the way we think about natural selection and evolution. This microscopic animal, known as a water flea or Daphnia pulex, generates genetic variation ...

New research suggests that natural selection, famous for rewarding advantageous differences in organisms, can also preserve similarities. The researchers worked with a plant called wild radish and its ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Andréa Morris reports on emergent intelligence in diverse systems. “Where are all the genetic cures?” asks Denis Noble, a ...

How do intermittent events like hurricanes impact natural selection? How do animals adapt to challenging weather? A ...

The peppered moth is an iconic example of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. For centuries peppered moths (Biston betularia) were common in the forests around Manchester, ...

In the 1800s, a conflict between the founding fathers of evolution divided the community. Charles Darwin believed sexual selection drove the variation in butterfly colors and patterns of males, while ...

The theory of evolution by natural selection was first formulated in Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species” in 1859. It describes how organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable ...

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Why do humans make so many laws? In a new article, I argue that the human ability to make laws evolved by natural selection. Here are a few snapshots. Laws may seem unlikely to come from evolution.