When we think of lead poisoning, most of us imagine modern human-made pollution, paint, old pipes, or exhaust fumes.

Long before factories, mines, and cars filled the air with pollution, our distant ancestors were already living with a silent ...

Lead exposure may have spelled evolutionary success for humans—and extinction for our ancient cousins—but other scientists ...

An international study changes the view that exposure to the toxic metal lead is largely a post-industrial phenomenon. The ...

Lead poisoning isn’t just an industrial-age problem. A new study reveals our ancestors, including Neanderthals, were exposed ...

By tracing when variations in the human genome first appeared, researchers have found that advances in cognitive abilities ...

From epic poetry to game shows, from Stone Age axes to spaceflight, humans have the most complex cultures of any species on Earth. Since the time of Darwin, scientists have suspected that this culture ...

The human genome is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes, the biological blueprints that make humans … well, human. But it turns out that some of our DNA — about 8% — are the remnants of ancient viruses ...

Researchers digitally reconstructed a crushed skull and concluded our species is 1 million years old, igniting a debate over ...

Our brains evolved for complex thought and language - but the same genes that made us smarter may have increased mental illness risk.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be the result of millions of years of evolution. Rapid neuronal evolution in humans is likely ASD’s genetic cause, new research suggests. Though autism can cause ...