Our ancestors mated with the mystery ‘Denisovan’ people – twice
The genes of extinct hominins called Denisovans live on in people from China and Papua New Guinea, suggesting two instances of cross-species breeding
Biggest ever family tree shows when cousins stopped having sex
A family tree of 13 million people has been built using data from an ancestry website, and it reveals when and why people started avoiding marrying close relations
Primitive human eggs matured in the lab for the first time
Human eggs have been removed in their most primitive state and brought to maturity in the lab for the first time, potentially boosting fertility treatments.
Baby skeleton from Alaska reveals origins of Native Americans
DNA from an infant girl who died 11,500 years ago reveals where America’s first human settlers came from and when they arrived
Our lust for tastier chocolate has transformed the cocoa tree
Ever since we domesticated the cocoa tree over 3000 years ago, we have been breeding them to make tastier chocolate – but in the process we have made them vulnerable
Lizards re-evolved eggs after thousands of years of live births
It’s an evolutionary U-turn: a group of egg-laying lizards evolved from live-bearing ancestors, which are in turn descended from even older egg-layers
Male monkeys with masculine faces draw long lingering glances
Female monkeys spend more time staring at males that have highly masculine facial features, but we don’t know if they fancy them or fear them
New Zealand’s iconic kiwi birds may be losing their sight
Three Okarito brown kiwis living wild in New Zealand are completely blind but in good physical condition, suggesting the species is evolving to lose its sight
Secrets of butterfly wing patterns revealed by gene hacking
Butterflies' wings have extraordinary patterns and colours, and it turns out they are controlled by a single "master gene" that performs many roles
Magic mushroom chemical may be a hallucinogenic insect repellent
These fungi influence our brains by producing a compound called psilocybin, but the origin of this chemical may have little to do with discovering fundamental truth