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evolution

Bonobo/Pygmy chimpanzee

Humans

Think you understand how evolution works? You're probably wrong

A common misconception is that evolution naturally selects for biological complexity, eventually creating advanced organisms like us. That couldn't be further from the truth

Features

Neanderthal

Life

We're beginning to question the idea of species – including our own

Features

pondweed with oxygen bubbles

Environment

Why is Earth so rich in oxygen? The answer is simpler than we thought

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Origolestes lii skeleton

Life

Cretaceous fossils are missing link in mammal ear evolution

51¶¯Âþ

A single gene controls how our faces develop when we are young

Humans

A single gene controls how our faces develop when we are young

51¶¯Âþ

Martin Rees

Video

Martin Rees: Humanity's future – predictions for the next century

Video

Lee Berger at 51¶¯Âþ Live

Video

Our incredible origins: The astonishing tale of Homo naledi

Video

Fossil of a newly-discovered mammal shows it had bizarre ears

Life

Fossil of a newly-discovered mammal shows it had bizarre ears

51¶¯Âþ

Lascaux II replica of a Lascaux cave painting. These are horse and cow figures in the central gallery. The original Lascaux cave was closed to the public in 1963. The full-scale Lascaux II replica opened nearby in 1983. The Lascaux cave paintings in south-western France, around 17,000 years old, were painted by Cro-Magnon man, an early European culture of modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens), using red, brown and yellow ochre, and black manganese dioxide. They may have had religious and artistic significance. Photographed in 2010.

Environment

Stone Age artists were obsessed with horses and we don’t know why

51¶¯Âþ

Huge mysterious ape Gigantopithecus was a distant cousin of orangutans

Life

Huge mysterious ape Gigantopithecus was a distant cousin of orangutans

A pioneering technique has given us a glimpse at the family tree of Gigantopithecus, an extinct ape that was 2.5 metres tall and lived 300,000 years ago

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Humans

Did apes first walk upright on two legs in Europe, not Africa?

51¶¯Âþ

Life

The bizarre plant-like animals that say life’s big bang never happened

Features

Humans

Did apes first walk upright on two legs in Europe, not Africa?

51¶¯Âþ

Humans

Have we found the African origin of all humanity? It's complicated

51¶¯Âþ

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