Seed: Science is Culture

Cultural Evolution

Does human culture evolve via natural selection, as our genes do?

Random Acts of Evolution

The idea of humankind as a paragon of design is called into question by the puffer fish genome - the smallest, tidiest vertebrate genome of all.

Abstract Sculptures of Evolution

Genes provide only the basic blueprints for our teeth. Shapes and sizes arise from the predictable interaction of molecules that live in the jaw itself.

Suspending Life

If almost every species on Earth was killed some 250 million years ago, how did our ancient ancestors survive and evolve into us?

Eyeing the Evolutionary Past

As we survey nature, the eyes of various creatures reveal the underlying means by which a single attribute can express itself over millions of years.

Will Self + Spencer Wells

The writer and the genetic anthropologist meet up to talk about place, identity, and what it means to be human.

Redefining Genes

Will new revelations about RNA force us to rethink how our past affects future evolution?

Algorithmic Inelegance

Complexity in living things is a product of the lack of direction in evolutionary processes, of the accumulation of fortuitous accidents, rather than the product of design.

Cribsheet #12: Genetics

Seed's Downloadable Tool for Living in the 21st Century

A Profound Sense of Time

PZ Myers on the process that prompts the growth of all vertebrates from embryos to unspecialized segments to multicellular animals.

The Evolution of Language

What songbirds, dancing, and knot-tying can tell us about why we speak.

The Meaning of Life

We create life, we search for it, we manipulate and revere it. Is it possible that we haven't yet defined the term?

Prime Vertebrae

PZ Myers discusses the critical difference between having six or seven cervical vertebrae.

On Extravagant Proportions

PZ Myers on scarab beetles and the influence of genes on the predictability of proportion.

To Keep on Looking

As we explore Mars, it forces us to imagine otherworldly evolution, challenging our definition of life and our sense of place in the solar system.

Variant Genes-In-Waiting

PZ Myers on how the garden-variety caterpillar is revealing surprising information about the circumstances under which genetic traits actually put themselves forward.

PZ Myers on How the Cavefish Lost Its Eyes

The Mexican blind cavefish raises the challenging evolutionary question: Does disuse lead to degeneration or disappearance of a feature? Here, an answer Darwin would have loved.

Cribsheet #7: Extinction

Seed's Downloadable Tool for Living in the 21st Century

We've Seen The Future, And It Is Us

As we drive the evolution of species, humans may be building a future with ever more diverse pests and pathogens and without the creatures we value most.

Microbes' Scent Knocks Out Competitors

A Varied Menu for Homo's "Cousins"

Neanderthals in Our Midst

Genetic and fossil evidence comes together to reveal a hidden chapter of human history.

Not in Kansas Anymore

If you think the creationists are bad in the US, check out Turkey.

Genetic Discovery Suggests Mammals Were Once Nocturnal

The Honeybee's Genome Could Be Its Savior

Researchers hope a new study will help save the multibillion-dollar honeybee industry.

Dead Bacteria Walking

Scent of Family Guides Girls' Maturation

New Study Finds Monkeys Hate Techno Too

Seed Interview: Bruce Lahn

The controversial scientist discusses the ongoing evolution of humans.

Snakes on the Brain

Seed Video Feature: Noam Chomsky + Robert Trivers

The anti-war activist and MIT linguist enters the Seed Salon to discuss deceit with the Rutgers evolutionary biologist.

Noam Chomsky + Robert Trivers

The anti-war activist and MIT linguist meets the Rutgers evolutionary biologist in the Seed Salon to discuss deceit.

Seed Video Feature: Noam Chomsky + Robert Trivers (Full Cut)

The anti-war activist and MIT linguist enters the Seed Salon to discuss deceit with the Rutgers evolutionary biologist.

Fast-Evolving DNA May Account for Differences Between Human, Chimp Brains

Protein Made by Lower Primates Combats HIV

Andrea Barrett + Niles Eldredge

The historical fiction writer and curator of the American Museum of Natural History enter the Seed Salon to discuss the role of narrative in science.

Why Do Grandmas Exist?

Studies of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania shed light on why humans, unlike other primates, undergo menopause.

The Human-Influenced Evolution of Dogs

Thanks to their domestication and favored pet status, dogs have enjoyed a genetic variability known to few other species.

Eulogizing the EV1

A talk with Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car?

Crater Could be Linked to "Great Dying"

A 300-mile wide indention in the Earth may be evidence for a 250-million year-old mass extinction.

Monkeys Monitor Weather, Too

Monkeys account for the weather when foraging, a behavior that may have contributed to the evolution of primate intelligence.

Real-Time Evolution

Researchers find evidence that a variety of African electric fish may be approaching speciation.

Warmer Weather Could Speed Up Speciation

Researchers find that havens for biodiversity near the equator may owe their existence to the tropical climate.

The Gay Animal Kingdom

The effeminate sheep & other problems with Darwinian sexual selection.

Monkeys and Humans Are Both Irrational

Capuchins and humans are both more scared of losing than economics would suggest.

Lizards Provide Evidence for a Theory of Altruism

Side-blotched lizards can recognize genetic brethren, support evolutionist Dawkins' "greenbeard" hypothesis.

The Incredible, Communicable Yawn

Scientists aren't exactly sure why we yawn, but they know yawns are contagious.

Monkeys Match Humans at Instinctual Counting

Two macaques named for US senators suggest humans and monkeys share the same system for determining numerical values.

Language Goes to the Birds

Have songbirds undermined our understanding of what makes human language unique?

Why We Haven't Met Any Aliens

A radical explanation for a conundrum about extra-terrestrial life, and what it means for the future of humanity

The Spotty History of Fruit Flies

Scientists zero in on the mutation responsible for giving species of fruit flies their spots.

The Secret's in the Third Eye

The parietal eye of a lizard sheds light on the evolution of the human eye.

Why Sex?

A biologist explains the evolutionary advantage of sex, and why we're not all asexual clones.

Time to Give It Up

New research chips away at the "irreducible complexity" argument behind intelligent design.

Scientists Happy About Sad Monkeys

Macaques suffer depression in much the same way as humans, and may be our best model for dealing with clinical depression.

An Evolutionary Finding

Newly discovered species fills a gap in the fossil record.

Strange Bedfellows

Scientists and Christian clergy ally for science, but is it a bond made in heaven?

Human Genome Still Evolving

What, you think your genes are so perfect already?

Why Aren't We More Like Chimps?

A new study out of Yale explains what exactly separates man from the apes.

Tracing Disease Back to the Dinos

A new medical school course at the University of Pittsburgh has would-be doctors diagnosing illnesses in long-extinct animals.

In Support of Natural Selection

Darwin gets a boost by a new study citing evidence for the environmental basis of natural selection.

Rumble in the Jungle

Sexual competition primes plants for extinction.

Rebranding Intelligent Design

Dover trial expert witnesses unite with the Discovery Institute to remove a philosophy course from a high school's curriculum.

Practical Joking

Researchers examine how laughter may have evolved.

Too Hungry to Enslave

Unstable food supply resulted in absence of slavery in early Australian hunter-gatherer societies.

The Darwin Awards

Prizes honor the demise of the un-fittest.

Evolution Wins in Dover

Judge Jones comes down hard on the side of teaching evolution, not intelligent design.

The Week in Science: 12/10 - 12/16

South Korea's cloning pioneer labeled a faker, a new map points out where endangered species could disappear and Virgin's Richard Branson finds a home for his spaceport.

Singing a Different Tune

Birds could be the key to identifying habitat fragmentation.

Evolution on Ice

Antarctic penguins become showcase for another evolutionary mechanism.

Gene Thieves

Bacteria steal genetic material in order to rapidly adapt

An Intergenerational Game of Telephone

Researchers confirm linguistic theory with genetic comparison

The Other I.D.

An interview with Don Wise, creator of "incompetent design"

Can You Stomach Lying?

A fungus' lack of libido illustrates how a strong species could become extinct.

Gorillas Use Tools, Too

Two female gorillas are spotted utilizing tree branches in Congo

The Dover Monkey Trial

Chris Mooney reports on how intelligent design is hijacking science.

{Force Diagram}: Senator Bill Frist

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction